Yankalilla.

The Bungala River valley was one of the first areas of South Australia surveyed by Surveyor General Colonel William Light after the area immediately surrounding the city of Adelaide. In fact on 18 May 1838, just over a year after the sale of Adelaide town lots, Light declared that 150,000 acres of land was ready for settlement, or almost so. They were: 69,000 acres around Adelaide; 27,000 acres at Rapid Bay; 5,400 acres at Yankalilla; 20,000 acres on Kangaroo Island; and 28,000 acres in the Onkaparinga Valley. The actual surveying of Yankalilla must have occurred a bit later around 1840 as settlement of Yankalilla did not being until 1842 with the arrival of Henry Kemmis, Septimane Herbert and George Worthington who all took up land and built houses. The farmers planted wheat and barley in the land they had cleared and by 1844 there were over 50 acres in wheat and several acres in potatoes. All three families built properties on the northern side of Bungala Creek. Worthington built near what was to become the Anglican Church and Kemmis built Manna Farm near the junction of the road to Victor Harbor and Hebert’s Bungala House became the first house south of Willunga.

 

The establishment of local government occurred in 1854 with the first council meeting taking place in the Normanville Hotel. The council chambers were soon erected in Yankalilla. By the late 1860s Yankalilla and Normanville had three flourmills, five stores, two breweries, four blacksmiths, three hotels and five churches! The breweries had to be local in those days as beer did not keep and could not be easily transported. It was the work of Louis Pasteur that led to beer being pasteurised. Once this happened the small town breweries all closed and beer production was centralised in Adelaide. In the early years of the 1850s and 1860s Yankalilla was one of the biggest and most important towns in the state apart from the mining centres of Kapunda, Burra, Kadina and Moonta.

 

Historically Yankalilla has several worthy buildings. One is the old school house at 48 Main Street which was built by the government in 1859. Several people operated this as a private school. The most famous of these was Sister Mary McKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph in 1867 who operated this as their first country school outside of Adelaide. It was conducted for 40 Catholic children. There were many Catholic families in the district as in the 1855 Yankalilla had a government “work depot” where recently arrived immigrant Irish girls could seek employment as domestic servants. Although there was never a Catholic Church in Yankalilla a Catholic Church had opened in Normanville in 1857. The Wissanger School near the current Yankalilla Area School was built 1859 as the first Yankalilla town school. The land for it was donated by Septimane Herbert and the bricks were donated by Robert Norman of Normanville. There are several important churches in Yankalilla. The first is the former Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1879 which is now the Uniting Church. But before this existed the Wesleyan Methodists built a church at Normanville in 1854. It still exists as the RSL Club rooms and behind it is a pioneer cemetery which contains the grave of Nelson Leak who built the church in 1854. It contains a number of headstones from the 1850s all in beautifully inscribed Willunga slate prepared by monumental masons from Willunga such a George Sara the owner of the Bangor slate quarry. The church closed in 1949 as the Normanville Methodist Church and was sold to the Returned Services League in 1952. The other significant building is Christ Church Anglican Church which was opened by Bishop Short in 1857. In recent years it has become the shrine of “Our Lady of Yankalilla” based on markings on the wall which resemble the Virgin Mary cradling a crucified Christ. The local rector reported the “image” in 1994 and it has been a shrine for pilgrims since 1996. Next to the church is the Anglican rectory and cemetery which has graves dating from 1854.

 

The futuristic age will start with the ending of global warfare, politics, a segregated society and the great recession. Teenagers will have moved away from prejudism through a zealotists movement to divide kids between the Extremeists who keep our world in segregation and the Humanitarians who desire to unify everyone respite how different we are. Our society will no longer be balanced by the 'class system' but be recognized with both rich and poor aspects of our civilization known as Xenosian society whom only recognizes level of value, a highly valued person earns a high place in society, a person who bears little value (an idiot, a waster, a copycat phony) holds a low place in society. Our form of communication, entertainment, education and labor will change forever! Our lifestyles will shrink down to a select few such as; Jiver, Cyber, Clubber, Raver, Zenite as well as the alternative and New Age rockers. Our education will dismiss public schools for academies where children will receive far greater education than previously anointed. Gamers will move into the virtual realm for a more realistic experience in their games, MMOs will be the central form of gaming on the network, consoles will all be inducted into the motion sensing holodeck realm (which for the moment is ruled by Kinect tech and holospheres). Ideal Virtual Worlds (IDW) will replace the social networks with voice recorded entries of blogs like in Star Trek captains log. Military weapons will go beyond led bullets and into a realm of scientific weaponry, the martial art will transcend into quick methods of dispatching dangerous foes and sport fighting that adds kinetic/psychologically empowering combat. We will move into space tours as well as cruises, workers will find work in mining asteroids. The cash system of dollar bills and coins will be replaced by digital credits and card payment. Our taxis will be robotically controlled pod cars that arrive when we want them to, we will use a massive transit call station to summon our ride. Hover cars will be the big thing, fiber-wheeled cars will replace tired cars in towns and other small areas. Flying cars will replace private jets for the rich thus giving them the chance to go where they wish. Fiber-wheeled body bikes will replace all forms of bike on the road thus being less noisy, mopeds will be used by kids and teens more often than bikes. There will be an acidic irrigation channel for the tiolet waste and for the garbage. Rooftops of large buildings will have a personal forested garden for people who like gardens and growing things. Skyscrapers will be beaten in height by atmospheric towers who reach as far as the stratosphere. Authorship will move to e-books where people read their novels on i-pads. Mobile phones will replace all cellular phones and feature holo-texting which has voice activation and visual interaction. Home phones will become video phones where voice and face can be directed to the caller. Holo-vision will replace the TV being the next step in TV evolution having 3D ability and news reports will come as quickly as they do on the web. The web will become increasingly personalized as the media changes from mainstream to enterprise allowing all forms of media that have a place in the world of entertainment. Media will be divided between entertainment modes, spotlight entertainment will be similar to the mainstream allowing the highest rated performers to be shown, independent entertainment will show those who do not seek fame for their role in success and background entertainment will be designed similar to the underground made mostly for those who have material too racy, vulgar or shocking to be heard on TV regularly. The underground will likely be reformed for those who highly dislike public recognition and are too controversial to be displayed anyways. Rock concerts will not sell as big as hitting a night club being the generational shift is influenced with more futurism. DJs will be the new rockstars, jive will be the new pop, clubs will be the new teen hangout with the authorised social sphere sections. Ravers will take over the street scene going to outdoor or street raves while taking the luxury of street racing a step further, they might also have private rooms for the moments of emotional breakdown in need of sympathetic sex or do it plainly for the purpose of sexual pleasure entertainment. Clubbers will have adopted nerdism and love for the cinema into their culture, they will keep the tuned car racing in their way of life. Cybers will have absorbed all rockaholic culture and will further their efforts of creativity, imagination and innovation while keeping the nihilism in their way of life, they will also have private clubs only opened to members of their culture (keeping posers out). Jivers will have taken all of popular/trend cultures into their fold becoming a culture still living the luxurious rich life, clubbing at the hottest clubs and taking up all the popular things announced on the web. Zenites will be your new Hippies, Yoga lovers, Vegans if you will having their clubs closer to nature meaning on the edge of a state park having coffee shops or other healthy food bars with only healthy meats for omnivores and having yoga/exercise pads as you see them on TV. New Age rockers will remain true to rock'n'roll staying the same old rockers they always were and keeping the guitar from dying out. A.I. will be engineered for the police force to avoid danger, the firemen to succeed in a rescue and for drivers whom probably fall asleep at the wheel to have an auto-drive function. 3D animation rather obviously will completely replace TV cartooning, whereas online graphic novels will replace comic books. CG animation will replace simple hand drawn animation becoming the biggest medium in artwork known as CG art. 3D will be known as futuristic art, being CG is considered the height in modern art. 3D will and has practically dominated the cinema like the cinema dominated the theater. Window cameras will be the new standard for filming replacing cameras that capture cartoon worthy footage. Holography will even take over the PC/laptop world with holo-keyboards, holo-screens coupled with the Virtual Reality Eyeset. Wi-Fi will replace wireless devices for internet making wireless less laggy, less a frail connection and more web cruising, online gaming freedom. Enterprises will replace corperations so that the economy is shared fairly between large and small businesses thus capitolism has cleaned up its act. Drone warfare will replace making people physically go into battle. Mechs will be used in the police force, the military, the fire department, the construction industry and the foresting industry. Androids will be made as house servants in rich homes as well as waiters at expensive restaurants. The police and military will advance toward exoskeletal armor, especially the firemen. Drugs will be subdued as will pasteurised pills be, more organic vitamins in pill form will be issued to help with many forms of illness or migraines and natural fiber liquid injections will replace drugs. The medical feild will advance to holographic surgery and life saving electro-medical junction, respirators will be worn during surgery or when examining a person with a flu. Orb balconies will make it possible for owners of apartments or condos or stayers at inns to view the city from a more three-dimensional view. Global networking will replace cable, DSL, or any form of internet and even replace any form of TV channel packages. Time will be measured through generations instead of decades being pop-culture cant seem to come up with a catchy way to pronunciation any decade. Pop-culture will be kept exclusive to the internet as will popular things. Folk culture and religion will remain the same for the most part. Intermingling will erase race altogether making the world a single race as it was back in the time of Babel and during the prime age. Air choppers without doubt will have replaced helicopters (like the ones seen in Avatar) becoming a more efficient flying machine for air rescues. The world will have conservative and liberal movements to subside political affairs and be government officials who are about action and less talk. Continental unions will be created to avoid international tension and turmoil. A council will replace the UN becoming the GC or Global Council setting only laws the world agrees on, they will elect a general who will represent the council and see to the matters in all nations. Energy drinks will replace the need for coffee, power drinks will replace sodas, spiked drinks will replace beer, electronic cigarettes will make it easy for non-smokers to be around smokers and the underground will likely find new styles of drugs that create new experiences or feelings vendoring them through the black market. Trance Shows will be held in every city a DJ holds a conventional concert, tours will consist of seminars after every concert made to bring connection between performer and fan. Silks will likely replace cottons making it so blue jeans and t-shirts are a thing of the past. Canvas (in place of leather), elastic (stretchy clothes), velcro (in place of zippers also made to endure heavy water speeds) and satin spandex (mostly for hipsters) and smart fabric will become a new standard in fashion in urban or town areas. Lastly GPS will have taken over every form of navigation, even star navigation.

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by Boomerang Media of PO Box 7009, RG27 8YL.

 

The following has been printed on the divided back:

 

'Remember

Milk can be pasteurised ...

Milk can be longlife ...

But above all ...

Milk is milk.

www.milkismilk.com.'

 

In the space for the stamp it states:

 

'Not For Sale'.

longwhitekid.wordpress.com/category/huia/

Glastonbury is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.

 

Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based at the site of a 14th-century abbey manor barn, often referred to as a tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

 

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve.

 

Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community, and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town.

 

Glastonbury is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.

 

Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based at the site of a 14th-century abbey manor barn,[5] often referred to as a tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

 

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve.

 

Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community, and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town.

 

During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys and low-lying ground surrounding Glastonbury so the Mesolithic people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints. The Neolithic people continued to exploit the reedswamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways. These included the Sweet Track, west of Glastonbury, which is one of the oldest engineered roads known and was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe, until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison. Tree-ring dating (dendrochronology) of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806 BC. It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet. It extended across the marsh between what was then an island at Westhay, and a ridge of high ground at Shapwick, a distance close to 2,000 metres (1.2 mi). The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the Somerset Levels. Built in the 39th century BC, during the Neolithic period, the track consisted of crossed poles of ash, oak and lime (Tilia) which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consisted of oak planks laid end-to-end. Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has been determined that it was built along the route of an even earlier track, the Post Track, dating from 3838 BC, and so 30 years older.

 

Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue, on the Somerset Levels near Godney, some 3 miles (5 km) north west of Glastonbury. It covers an area of 400 feet (120 m) north to south by 300 feet (90 m) east to west, and housed around 100 people in five to seven groups of houses, each for an extended family, with sheds and barns, made of hazel and willow covered with reeds, and surrounded either permanently or at certain times by a wooden palisade. The village was built in about 300 BC and occupied into the early Roman period (around AD 100) when it was abandoned, possibly due to a rise in the water level. It was built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay.

 

Sharpham Park is a 300-acre (120-hectare) historic park, 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, which dates back to the Bronze Age.

 

Glæstyngabyrig. When the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th century, it was called Glestingaburg. The burg element is Old English and could refer either to a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure; however the Glestinga element is obscure, and may derive from a Celtic personal name or from Old English (either from a name or otherwise). It may derive from a person or kindred group named Glast. The name however is likely related to an Irish individual named Glas mac Caise 'Glas son of Cas'. Glas is an ancient Irish personal name meaning 'green, grey/green'. It is stated in the Life of St Patrick that he resurrected a swineherder by that name and he went to Glastonbury, to an area of the village known as 'Glastonbury of the Irish' and this could well be referring to the area of Beckery (Little Ireland) where it is believed an Irish Colony established itself in the 10th century and was thus nicknamed 'Little Ireland'. This area was known to the Irish as Glastimbir na n-Gaoidhil 'Glastonbury of the Gaels'. (The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey - Courteney Arthur Ralegh Radford). This is the earliest source for the name Glastonbury. The modern Irish form for Glastonbury is Glaistimbir.

 

Hugh Ross Williamson cites a tale about St. Collen, one of the earliest hermits to inhabit the Tor before the Abbey was built by St. Patrick, which has the Saint summoned by the King of the Fairies, Gwyn, to the summit of the Tor. Upon arrival there he beholds a hovering mansion inhabited by handsomely dressed courtiers and King Gwyn on a throne of gold; holy water disperses the apparition. This is from Druid mythology, in which the mansion is made of glass so as to receive the spirits of the dead, which were supposed to depart from the summit of the Tor. This was the chief reason why the chapel, and later the church, of St. Michael were built on the high hill; St. Michael being the chief patron against diabolic attacks which the monks believed the Fairy King to be numbered among. Accordingly, Williamson posits that the Tor was named after the glassy mansion of the dead.

 

William of Malmesbury in his De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie gives the Old Celtic Ineswitrin (or Ynys Witrin) as its earliest name, and asserts that the founder of the town was the eponymous Glast, a descendant of Cunedda.

 

Centwine (676–685) was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey. King Edmund Ironside was buried at the abbey. The Domesday Book indicates that in the hundred of Glastingberiensis, the Abbey was the Lord in 1066 prior to the arrival of William the Conqueror then tenant-in chief with Godwin as Lord of Glastingberi in 1086.

 

To the southwest of the town centre is Beckery, which was once a village in its own right but is now part of the suburbs. Around the 7th and 8th centuries it was occupied by a small monastic community associated with a cemetery. Archaeological excavations in 2016 uncovered 50 to 60 skeletons thought to be those of monks from Beckery Chapel during the 5th or early 6th century.

 

Sharpham Park was granted by King Eadwig to the then abbot Æthelwold in 957. In 1191 Sharpham Park was gifted by the soon-to-be King John I to the Abbots of Glastonbury, who remained in possession of the park and house until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. From 1539 to 1707 the park was owned by the Duke of Somerset, Sir Edward Seymour, brother of Queen Jane; the Thynne family of Longleat, and the family of Sir Henry Gould. Edward Dyer was born here in 1543. The house is now a private residence and Grade II* listed building. It was the birthplace of Sir Edward Dyer (died 1607) an Elizabethan poet and courtier, the writer Henry Fielding (1707–54), and the cleric William Gould.

 

In the 1070s St Margaret's Chapel was built on Magdelene Street, originally as a hospital and later as almshouses for the poor. The building dates from 1444. The roof of the hall is thought to have been removed after the Dissolution, and some of the building was demolished in the 1960s. It is Grade II* listed, and a scheduled monument. Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Glastonbury in 2010 plans were announced to restore the building.

 

During the Middle Ages the town largely depended on the abbey but was also a centre for the wool trade until the 18th century. A Saxon-era canal connected the abbey to the River Brue. Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, was executed with two of his monks on 15 November 1539 during the dissolution of the monasteries.

 

During the Second Cornish Uprising of 1497 Perkin Warbeck surrendered when he heard that Giles, Lord Daubeney's troops, loyal to Henry VII, were camped at Glastonbury.

 

In 1693 Glastenbury, Connecticut was founded and named after the English town from which some of the settlers had emigrated. It is rumored to have originally been called "Glistening Town" until the mid-19th century, when the name was changed to match the spelling of Glastonbury, England, but in fact, residents of the Connecticut town believe this to be a myth, based on the Glastonbury Historical Society's records. A representation of the Glastonbury thorn is incorporated onto the town seal.

 

The Somerset town's charter of incorporation was received in 1705. Growth in the trade and economy largely depended on the drainage of the surrounding moors. The opening of the Glastonbury Canal produced an upturn in trade, and encouraged local building. The parish was part of the hundred of Glaston Twelve Hides, until the 1730s when it became a borough in its own right.

 

By the middle of the 19th century the Glastonbury Canal drainage problems and competition from the new railways caused a decline in trade, and the town's economy became depressed. The canal was closed on 1 July 1854, and the lock and aqueducts on the upper section were dismantled. The railway opened on 17 August 1854. The lower sections of the canal were given to the Commissioners for Sewers, for use as a drainage ditch. The final section was retained to provide a wharf for the railway company, which was used until 1936, when it passed to the Commissioners of Sewers and was filled in. The Central Somerset Railway merged with the Dorset Central Railway to become the Somerset and Dorset Railway. The main line to Glastonbury closed in 1966.

 

In the Northover district industrial production of sheepskins, woollen slippers and, later, boots and shoes, developed in conjunction with the growth of C&J Clark in Street. Clarks still has its headquarters in Street, but shoes are no longer manufactured there. Instead, in 1993, redundant factory buildings were converted to form Clarks Village, the first purpose-built factory outlet in the United Kingdom.

 

During the 19th and 20th centuries tourism developed based on the rise of antiquarianism, the association with the abbey and mysticism of the town. This was aided by accessibility via the rail and road network, which has continued to support the town's economy and led to a steady rise in resident population since 1801.

 

Glastonbury received national media coverage in 1999 when cannabis plants were found in the town's floral displays.

 

Glastonbury is notable for myths and legends concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur as recorded by ancient historians William of Malmesbury, Venerable Bede, Gerald of Wales and Geoffrey of Monmouth. Many long-standing and cherished legends were examined in a four-year study by archaeologists, led by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, at the University of Reading, who, amongst other findings, speculated that the connection with King Arthur and his Queen, Guinevere, was created deliberately by the monks in 1184 to meet a financial crisis caused by a devastating fire. Other myths examined include the visit by Jesus, the building of the oldest church in England, and the flowering of the walking stick. Roberta Gilchrist stated, "We didn't claim to disprove the legendary associations, nor would we wish to". The site of King Arthur's supposed grave contained material dating from between the 11th and 15th centuries. Gilchrist said, "That doesn't dispel the Arthurian legend, it just means the pit [20th century archaeologist Ralegh Radford] excavated he rather over-claimed." The study made new archaeological finds; its leader found Glastonbury to be a remarkable archaeological site. The new results were reported on the Glastonbury Abbey Web site, and were to be incorporated into the Abbey's guidebook; however, the leader of the study, who became a trustee of Glastonbury, said "We are not in the business of destroying people's beliefs ... A thousand years of beliefs and legends are part of the intangible history of this remarkable place". Gilchrist went on to say, "archaeology can help us to understand how legends evolve and what people in the past believed". She noted that the project has actually uncovered the first definitive proof of occupation at the Glastonbury Abbey site during the fifth century—when Arthur allegedly lived.

 

The legend that Joseph of Arimathea retrieved certain holy relics was introduced by the French poet Robert de Boron in his 13th-century version of the grail story, thought to have been a trilogy though only fragments of the later books survive today. The work became the inspiration for the later Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian tales.

 

De Boron's account relates how Joseph captured Jesus's blood in a cup (the "Holy Grail") which was subsequently brought to Britain. The Vulgate Cycle reworked Boron's original tale. Joseph of Arimathea was no longer the chief character in the Grail origin: Joseph's son, Josephus, took over his role of the Grail keeper. The earliest versions of the grail romance, however, do not call the grail "holy" or mention anything about blood, Joseph or Glastonbury.

 

In 1191, monks at the abbey claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere to the south of the Lady Chapel of the Abbey Church, which was visited by a number of contemporary historians including Giraldus Cambrensis. The remains were later moved and were lost during the Reformation. Many scholars suspect that this discovery was a pious forgery to substantiate the antiquity of Glastonbury's foundation, and increase its renown.

 

An early Welsh poem links Arthur to the Tor in an account of a confrontation between Arthur and Melwas, who had kidnapped Queen Guinevere.

 

Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury by boat over the flooded Somerset Levels. On disembarking he stuck his staff into the ground and it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn (also called Holy Thorn). This is said to explain a hybrid Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn) tree that only grows within a few miles of Glastonbury, and which flowers twice annually, once in spring and again around Christmas time (depending on the weather). Each year a sprig of thorn is cut, by the local Anglican vicar and the eldest child from St John's School, and sent to the Queen.

 

The original Holy Thorn was a centre of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages but was chopped down during the English Civil War. A replacement thorn was planted in the 20th century on Wearyall hill (originally in 1951 to mark the Festival of Britain, but the thorn had to be replanted the following year as the first attempt did not take). The Wearyall Hill Holy Thorn was vandalised in 2010 and all its branches were chopped off. It initially showed signs of recovery but now (2014) appears to be dead. A new sapling has been planted nearby. Many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, St Johns Church and Chalice Well.

 

Today, Glastonbury Abbey presents itself as "traditionally the oldest above-ground Christian church in the world," which according to the legend was built at Joseph's behest to house the Holy Grail, 65 or so years after the death of Jesus. The legend also says that as a child, Jesus had visited Glastonbury along with Joseph. The legend probably was encouraged during the medieval period when religious relics and pilgrimages were profitable business for abbeys. William Blake mentioned the legend in a poem that became a popular hymn, "Jerusalem".

 

In 1934 artist Katherine Maltwood suggested a landscape zodiac, a map of the stars on a gigantic scale, formed by features in the landscape such as roads, streams and field boundaries, could be found situated around Glastonbury. She held that the "temple" was created by Sumerians about 2700 BC. The idea of a prehistoric landscape zodiac fell into disrepute when two independent studies examined the Glastonbury Zodiac, one by Ian Burrow in 1975 and the other by Tom Williamson and Liz Bellamy in 1983. These both used standard methods of landscape historical research. Both studies concluded that the evidence contradicted the idea of an ancient zodiac. The eye of Capricorn identified by Maltwood was a haystack. The western wing of the Aquarius phoenix was a road laid in 1782 to run around Glastonbury, and older maps dating back to the 1620s show the road had no predecessors. The Cancer boat (not a crab as in conventional western astrology) consists of a network of 18th-century drainage ditches and paths. There are some Neolithic paths preserved in the peat of the bog formerly comprising most of the area, but none of the known paths match the lines of the zodiac features. There is no support for this theory, or for the existence of the "temple" in any form, from conventional archaeologists. Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several ley lines.

 

The town council is made up of 16 members, and is based at Glastonbury Town Hall, Magdalene Street. The town hall was built in 1814 and has a two-storey late Georgian ashlar front. It is a Grade II* listed building.

 

For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, Glastonbury comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Mendip, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Glastonbury Municipal Borough.

 

The town's retained fire station is operated by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Police and ambulance services are provided by Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the South Western Ambulance Service. There are two doctors' surgeries in Glastonbury, and a National Health Service community hospital operated by Somerset Primary Care Trust which opened in 2005.

 

There are 4 electoral wards within Glastonbury having in total the same population as is mentioned above.

 

Glastonbury falls within the Wells constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The Member of Parliament is Conservative, James Heappey, who replaced Tessa Munt of the Liberal Democrats in the 2015 general election.

 

Glastonbury is twinned with the Greek island of Patmos, and Lalibela, Ethiopia.

 

The walk up the Tor to the distinctive tower at the summit (the partially restored remains of an old church) is rewarded by vistas of the mid-Somerset area, including the Levels which are drained marshland. From there, on a dry point, 158 metres (518 ft) above sea level, it is easy to appreciate how Glastonbury was once an island and, in the winter, the surrounding moors are often flooded, giving that appearance once more. It is an agricultural region typically with open fields of permanent grass, surrounded by ditches with willow trees. Access to the moors and Levels is by "droves", i.e., green lanes. The Levels and inland moors can be 6 metres (20 ft) below peak tides and have large areas of peat. The low-lying areas are underlain by much older Triassic age formations of Upper Lias sand that protrude to form what would once have been islands and include Glastonbury Tor. The lowland landscape was formed only during the last 10,000 years, following the end of the last ice age.

 

The low-lying damp ground can produce a visual effect known as a Fata Morgana. This optical phenomenon occurs because rays of light are strongly bent when they pass through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed. The Italian name Fata Morgana is derived from the name of Morgan le Fay, who was alternatively known as Morgane, Morgain, Morgana and other variants. Morgan le Fay was described as a powerful sorceress and antagonist of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the Arthurian legend.

 

Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from the village of Street. At the time of King Arthur the Brue formed a lake just south of the hilly ground on which Glastonbury stands. This lake is one of the locations suggested by Arthurian legend as the home of the Lady of the Lake. Pomparles Bridge stood at the western end of this lake, guarding Glastonbury from the south, and it is suggested that it was here that Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur into the waters after King Arthur fell at the Battle of Camlann. The old bridge was replaced by a reinforced concrete arch bridge in 1911.

 

Until the 13th century, the direct route to the sea at Highbridge was prevented by gravel banks and peat near Westhay. The course of the river partially encircled Glastonbury from the south, around the western side (through Beckery), and then north through the Panborough-Bleadney gap in the Wedmore-Wookey Hills, to join the River Axe just north of Bleadney. This route made it difficult for the officials of Glastonbury Abbey to transport produce from their outlying estates to the abbey, and when the valley of the River Axe was in flood it backed up to flood Glastonbury itself. Some time between 1230 and 1250 a new channel was constructed westwards into Meare Pool north of Meare, and further westwards to Mark Moor. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project based on the Somerset Levels and Moors and managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The project commenced in January 2009 and aims to restore, recreate and reconnect habitat, ensuring that wildlife is enhanced and capable of sustaining itself in the face of climate change, while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably. It is one of an increasing number of landscape-scale conservation projects in the UK.

 

The Ham Wall National Nature Reserve, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Glastonbury, is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This new wetland habitat has been established from out peat diggings and now consists of areas of reedbed, wet scrub, open water and peripheral grassland and woodland. Bird species living on the site include the bearded tit and the Eurasian bittern.

 

The Whitelake River rises between two low limestone ridges to the north of Glastonbury, part of the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The confluence of the two small streams that make the Whitelake River is on Worthy Farm, the site of the Glastonbury Festival, between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle.

 

Along with the rest of South West England, Glastonbury has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50.0 °F). Seasonal temperature variation is less extreme than most of the United Kingdom because of the adjacent sea temperatures. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 21 °C (69.8 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 or 2 °C (33.8 or 35.6 °F) are common. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, however convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton. Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection. Most of the rainfall in autumn and winter is caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. Average rainfall is around 700 mm (28 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.

 

Glastonbury is a centre for religious tourism and pilgrimage. As with many towns of similar size, the centre is not as thriving as it once was but Glastonbury supports a large number of alternative shops.

 

The outskirts of the town contain a DIY shop, a former sheepskin and slipper factory site, once owned by Morlands, which is slowly being redeveloped. The 31-acre (13 ha) site of the old Morlands factory was scheduled for demolition and redevelopment into a new light industrial park, although there have been some protests that the buildings should be reused rather than being demolished. As part of the redevelopment of the site a project has been established by the Glastonbury Community Development Trust to provide support for local unemployed people applying for employment, starting in self-employment and accessing work-related training.

 

According to the Glastonbury Conservation Area Appraisal of July 2010, there are approximately 170 listed buildings or structures in the town's designated conservation area, of which eight are listed grade I, six are listed grade II* and the remainder are listed grade II.

 

The Tribunal was a medieval merchant's house, used as the Abbey courthouse and, during the Monmouth Rebellion trials, by Judge Jeffreys. It now serves as a museum containing possessions and works of art from the Glastonbury Lake Village which were preserved in almost perfect condition in the peat after the village was abandoned. The museum is run by the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society. The building also houses the tourist information centre.

 

The octagonal Market Cross was built in 1846 by Benjamin Ferrey.

 

The George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn was built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to Glastonbury Abbey, which is open to visitors. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The front of the 3-storey building is divided into 3 tiers of panels with traceried heads. Above the right of centre entrance are 3 carved panels with arms of the Abbey and Edward IV.

 

The Somerset Rural Life Museum is a museum of the social and agricultural history of Somerset, housed in buildings surrounding a 14th-century barn once belonging to Glastonbury Abbey. It was used for the storage of arable produce, particularly wheat and rye, from the abbey's home farm of approximately 524 acres (2.12 km2). Threshing and winnowing would also have been carried out in the barn, which was built from local shelly limestone with thick timbers supporting the stone tiling of the roof. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building, and is a scheduled monument.

 

The Chalice Well is a holy well at the foot of the Tor, covered by a wooden well-cover with wrought-iron decoration made in 1919. The natural spring has been in almost constant use for at least two thousand years. Water issues from the spring at a rate of 25,000 imperial gallons (110,000 L; 30,000 US gal) per day and has never failed, even during drought. Iron oxide deposits give the water a reddish hue, as dissolved ferrous oxide becomes oxygenated at the surface and is precipitated, providing chalybeate waters. As with the hot springs in nearby Bath, the water is believed to possess healing qualities. The well is about 9 feet (2.7 m) deep, with two underground chambers at its bottom. It is often portrayed as a symbol of the female aspect of deity, with the male symbolised by Glastonbury Tor (however, some consider Glastonbury Tor to be a 'hugh bounteous female figure'). As such, it is a popular destination for pilgrims in search of the divine feminine, including modern Pagans. The well is however popular with all faiths and in 2001 became a World Peace Garden.

 

Just a short distance from the Chalice Well site, across a road known as Well House Lane, can be found the "White Spring", where a temple has been created in the 21st century. Whilst the waters of the Chalice Well are touched red with iron, the water of the latter is white with calcite. Some people consider the red water of Chalice Well to have male properties, whilst the white water of White Spring has female qualities. Both springs rise from caverns underneath the Tor and it is claimed that both have healing in their flow.

 

The building now used as the White Spring Temple was originally a Victorian-built well house, erected by the local water board in 1872. Around that time, an outbreak of cholera in the area caused great concern and the natural caves were dug out, and a stone collection chamber was constructed to ensure the flow of a quality water supply. Study of the flow of water into the collection chamber has shown that the builders also tapped into other springs, besides the White Spring and judging from the high iron content of one of these springs, it appears that a small offshoot of Chalice Well finds its way under Well House Lane to emerge beside the White Spring. However, after building the reservoir, the water board soon discovered that the high calciferous content of the water caused pipes to block and by the end of the 19th century water was piped into Glastonbury from out of town. After lying derelict for many years, the water board sold off the well house, which is now maintained by a group of volunteers as a "water temple". On the outside of the building is a tap where visitors and locals can collect the water of the White Spring.

 

The Glastonbury Canal ran just over 14 miles (23 km) through two locks from Glastonbury to Highbridge where it entered the Bristol Channel in the early 19th century, but it became uneconomic with the arrival of the railway in the 1840s.

 

Glastonbury and Street railway station was the biggest station on the original Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway main line from Highbridge to Evercreech Junction until closed in 1966 under the Beeching axe. Opened in 1854 as Glastonbury, and renamed in 1886, it had three platforms, two for Evercreech to Highbridge services and one for the branch service to Wells. The station had a large goods yard controlled from a signal box. The site is now a timber yard for a local company. Replica level crossing gates have been placed at the entrance.

 

The nearest railway station is at Castle Cary but there is no direct bus route linking it to Glastonbury. There are convenient bus connections between Glastonbury and the railway stations at Bristol Temple Meads (over an hour travelling time) and at Taunton. It is also served by Berrys Coaches daily 'Superfast' service to and from London.

 

The main road in the town is the A39 which passes through Glastonbury from Wells connecting the town with Street and the M5 motorway. The other roads around the town are small and run across the levels generally following the drainage ditches. Local bus services are provided by Buses of Somerset (part of First), First West of England, Frome Bus & Libra Travel. The main routes are to Bristol via Wells, to Bridgwater, to Yeovil via Street and to Taunton.There is also a coach service to London Victoria provided by Berrys.

 

Television programmes and local news is provided by BBC West and ITV West Country from the Mendip TV transmitter.

 

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Somerset on 95.5 FM, Heart West on 102.6 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South West on 102.4 FM, Worthy FM on 87.7 FM which broadcast during The Glastonbury Festival and GWS Radio on 107.1 FM, a community radio station.

 

The town’s local newspapers are the Mid Somerset Series, Western Daily Press, Somerset County Gazette and Somerset Live.

 

There are several infant and primary schools in Glastonbury and the surrounding villages. Secondary education is provided by St Dunstan's School. In 2017, the school had 327 students between the ages of 11 and 16 years. It is named after St. Dunstan, an abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, who went on to become the Archbishop of Canterbury in 960 AD. The school was built in 1958 with major building work, at a cost of £1.2 million, in 1998, adding the science block and the sports hall. It was designated as a specialist Arts College in 2004, and the £800,000 spent at this time paid for the Performing Arts studio and facilities to support students with special educational needs. Tor School is a pupil referral unit based on Beckery New Road, which caters for 14-16-year-old students who have been excluded from mainstream education, or who have been referred for medical reasons.

 

Strode College in Street provides academic and vocational courses for those aged 16–18 and adult education. A tertiary institution and further education college, most of the courses it offers are A-levels or Business and Technology Education Councils (BTECs). The college also provides some university-level courses, and is part of The University of Plymouth Colleges network.

 

Glastonbury may have been a site of religious importance in pre-Christian times. The abbey was founded by Britons, and dates to at least the early 7th century, although later medieval Christian legend claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century. This legend is intimately tied to Robert de Boron's version of the Holy Grail story and to Glastonbury's connection to King Arthur, which dates at least to the early 12th century. William of Malmesbury called this structure "the oldest church in England," and thenceforth it was known simply as the Old Church, inasmuch as it had existed for many years prior to the 7th century as a Celtic religious centre. In his "History of the English Church and People," written in the early eighth century, the Venerable Bede provides details regarding its construction to early missionaries. Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands after the Battle of Peonnum in 658. King Ine of Wessex enriched the endowment of the community of monks already established at Glastonbury. He is said to have directed that a stone church be built in 712. The Abbey Church was enlarged in the 10th century by the Abbot of Glastonbury, Saint Dunstan, the central figure in the 10th-century revival of English monastic life. He instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury and built new cloisters. Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. In 1184, a great fire at Glastonbury destroyed the monastic buildings. Reconstruction began almost immediately and the Lady Chapel, which includes the well, was consecrated in 1186.

 

The abbey had a violent end during the Dissolution and the buildings were progressively destroyed as their stones were removed for use in local building work. The remains of the Abbot's Kitchen (a grade I listed building.) and the Lady Chapel are particularly well-preserved set in 36 acres (150,000 m2) of parkland. It is approached by the Abbey Gatehouse which was built in the mid-14th century and completely restored in 1810.

 

There is also a strong Irish connection to Glastonbury as it is said to be along a route of pilgrimage from Ireland to Rome. It is supposed that St. Patrick and St. Brigid both came to the area and both Saints are documented by William of Malmesbury as having done so. There are Chapels named after them too - St. Patrick's Chapel, Glastonbury is within the Abbey grounds and St. Brigid's Chapel is at Beckery (Little Ireland).

 

The Church of St Benedict was rebuilt by Abbot Richard Beere in about 1520. This is now an Anglican church and is linked with the parishes of St John's Church in Glastonbury and St Mary's & All Saints Church in the village of Meare as a joint benefice.

 

Described as "one of the most ambitious parish churches in Somerset", the current Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The church is laid out in a cruciform plan with an aisled nave and a clerestorey of seven bays. The west tower has elaborate buttressing, panelling and battlements and at 134½ feet (about 41 metres), is the second tallest parish church tower in Somerset. Recent excavations in the nave have revealed the foundations of a large central tower, possibly of Saxon origin, and a later Norman nave arcade on the same plan as the existing one. A central tower survived until the 15th century, but is believed to have collapsed, at which time the church was rebuilt. The interior of the church includes four 15th-century tomb-chests, some 15th-century stained glass in the chancel, medieval vestments, and a domestic cupboard of about 1500 which was once at Witham Charterhouse.

 

In the centuries that followed the Reformation, many religious denominations came to Glastonbury to establish chapels and meeting houses. For such a relatively small town, Glastonbury has a remarkably diverse history of Christian places of worship, further enriched by the fact that several of these movements saw break-away factions, typically setting up new meeting places as a result of doctrinal disagreements, leaving behind them a legacy which would require a highly specialized degree of study in order to chart their respective histories and places of practice. Amongst their number have been Puritans/Undetermined Protestants, Quakers, Independents, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, Salvationists, Plymouth Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals.

 

The United Reformed Church on the High Street was built in 1814 and altered in 1898. It stands on the site of the Ship Inn where meetings were held during the 18th century. It is Grade II listed.

 

Glastonbury Methodist Church on Lambrook Street was built in 1843 and has a galleried interior, typical of a non-conformist chapel of that period, but an unusual number of stained glass windows. Close by the front of the church is an ancient pond, which was later covered to form a brick-arched reservoir. This is mentioned in property deeds of 1821, and is still accessible, containing approximately 31,500 gallons of water.

 

The Methodist Church on Lambrook street was originally the Glastonbury Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. A Primitive Methodist Chapel was built on Northload Street in 1844, with an adjoining house added for a minister in 1869. This chapel was closed in 1968, since which time it has had a number of different uses, being described in 2007 as the Maitreya Monastery, prior to which it had been the Archangel Michael Soul Therapy Centre.

 

The Bove Town Gospel Hall has been a place of worship in the town since at least 1889, when it was listed as a mission of the Plymouth Brethren. Jehovah's Witnesses originally occupied a Kingdom Hall on Archer's Way from 1942. This transferred to Church Lane in 1964, and subsequently to its present site on Old Wells Road. The Gospel Hall was registered for the solemnizing of marriages in 1964

 

The Catholic Church of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury was built, on land near to the Abbey, in 1939. A statue based on a 14th-century metal seal was blessed in 1955 and crowned in 1965 restoring the Marian shrine that had been in the Abbey prior to the reformation. The Shrine is now the home of the Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury, a Catholic Benedictine Monastery founded in August 2019.

 

The Glastonbury Order of Druids was formed on Mayday 1988.

 

Sufism has been long established in Glastonbury. Zikrs are held weekly in private homes, and on the first Sunday of every month a zikr is held at St Margaret's Chapel in Magdalene Street. A Sufi charity shop was established in Glastonbury in 1999, and supports missionary work in Africa. This shop was opened after Sheikh Nazim came to Glastonbury to visit the Abbey. Here he declared, "This is the spiritual heart of England ... It is from here that the spiritual new age will begin and to here that Jesus will return".

 

The pagan Glastonbury Goddess Temple was founded in 2002 and registered as a place of worship the following year. It is self-described as the first temple of its kind to exist in Europe in over a thousand years.

 

In April 2012, it was reported by The Guardian newspaper that, according to the Pilgrim Reception Centre in the town, Glastonbury had around seventy different faith groups. Some of these groups attended a special ceremony to celebrate this diversity, held in the Chalice Well Gardens on 21 April of that year.

 

The 22nd Jagannatha Ratha-yatra Krishna Festival took place in Glastonbury on Sunday 4 October 2015. Devotees of the Krishna Consciousness movement travelled to the town from London, Bath, Bristol and elsewhere to join with locals in a procession and Kirtan.

 

Glastonbury also headquarters the British Orthodox Church which is independent Oriental Orthodox denomination since 2015

 

Glastonbury has a particular significance for members of the Baháʼí Faith in that Wellesley Tudor Pole, founder of the Chalice Well Trust, was one of the earliest and most prominent adherents of this faith in the United Kingdom.

 

The local football team is Glastonbury F.C. They joined the Western Football League in 1919 and have won the Western Football League title three times in their history. The club are now playing in the Somerset County Football League.

 

Glastonbury Cricket Club previously competed in the West of England Premier League, one of the ECB Premier Leagues, the highest level of recreational cricket in England and Wales. The club plays at the Tor Leisure Ground, which used to stage Somerset County Cricket Club first-class fixtures.

 

The town is on the route of the Samaritans Way South West.

 

In a 1904 novel by Charles Whistler entitled A Prince of Cornwall Glastonbury in the days of Ine of Wessex is portrayed. It is also a setting in the Warlord Chronicles, a trilogy of books about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell. Modern fiction has also used Glastonbury as a setting including The Age of Misrule series of books by Mark Chadbourn in which the Watchmen appear, a group selected from Anglican priests in and around Glastonbury to safeguard knowledge of a gate to the Otherworld on top of Glastonbury Tor. John Cowper Powys's novel A Glastonbury Romance is set in Glastonbury and is concerned with the Grail. The historical mystery novel Grave Goods by Diana Norman (writing under the pen name Ariana Frankin) is set in Glastonbury just after the abbey fire and concerns the supposed graves of Arthur and Guinevere, as well as featuring other landmarks such as the Tor.

 

The Children's World charity grew out of the festival and is based in the town. It is known internationally (as Children's World International). It was set up by Arabella Churchill in 1981 to provide drama participation and creative play and to work creatively in educational settings, providing social and emotional benefits for all children, particularly those with special needs. Children's World International is the sister charity of Children's World and was started in 1999 to work with children in the Balkans, in conjunction with Balkan Sunflowers and Save the Children. They also run the Glastonbury Children's Festival each August.

 

The local Brass Band is Glastonbury Brass which is currently placed in the first section for the West of England area. The band was founded in 2017 when the old Yeovil Town Band relocated after running into financial difficulty following a "notice to quit" on its rehearsal facility in September 2016. The band is featured twice on the Haiku Salut album There Is No Elsewhere (2018) and can be heard on the tracks Cold To Crack The Stones and The More And Moreness. In February 2020, the band was involved in the launch of Johnny Mars's "Dare to Dream" project aimed at raising awareness of the effects mankind is having on the world.

 

Glastonbury is the final venue for the annual November West Country Carnival.

 

Glastonbury has been described as a New Age community where communities have grown up to include people with New Age beliefs.

 

The first Glastonbury Festivals were a series of cultural events held in summer, from 1914 to 1926. The festivals were founded by English socialist composer Rutland Boughton and his librettist Lawrence Buckley. Apart from the founding of a national theatre, they envisaged a summer school and music festival based on utopian principles. With strong Arthurian connections and historic and prehistoric associations, Glastonbury was chosen to host the festivals.

 

The more recent Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, founded in 1970, is now the largest open-air music and performing arts festival in the world. Although it is named after Glastonbury, it is actually held at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle, 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the town of Glastonbury. The festival is best known for its contemporary music, but also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and many other arts. For 2005, the enclosed area of the festival was over 900 acres (3.6 km2), had over 385 live performances and was attended by around 150,000 people. In 2007, over 700 acts played on over 80 stages and the capacity expanded by 20,000 to 177,000. The festival has spawned a range of other work including the 1972 film Glastonbury Fayre and album, 1996 film Glastonbury the Movie and the 2005 DVD Glastonbury Anthems.

 

Glastonbury has been the birthplace or home to many notable people. Peter King, 1st Baron King was the recorder of Glastonbury in 1705. Thomas Bramwell Welch the discoverer of the pasteurisation process to prevent the fermentation of grape juice was born in Glastonbury in 1825. The judge John Creighton represented Lunenburg County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1770 to 1775. The fossil collector Thomas Hawkins lived in the town during the 19th century.

 

The religious connections and mythology of the town have also attracted notable authors. The occultist and writer Dion Fortune (Violet Mary Firth) lived and is buried in Glastonbury. Her old house was home to the writer and historian Geoffrey Ashe, who was known for his works on local legends. Frederick Bligh Bond, archaeologist and writer. Eckhart Tolle, a German-born writer, public speaker, and spiritual teacher lived in Glastonbury during the 1980s. Eileen Caddy was at a sanctuary in Glastonbury when she first claimed to have heard the "voice of God" while meditating. Her subsequent instructions from the "voice" directed her to take on Sheena Govan as her spiritual teacher, and became a spiritual teacher and new age author, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation community.

 

Popular entertainment and literature is also represented amongst the population. English composer Rutland Boughton moved from Birmingham to Glastonbury in 1911 and established the country's first national annual summer school of music. Gary Stringer, lead singer of rock band Reef, was a local along with other members of the band. The juggler Haggis McLeod and his late wife, Arabella Churchill, one of the founders of the Glastonbury Festival, lived in the town. The conductor Charles Hazlewood lives locally and hosts the "Play the Field" music festival on his farm nearby. Bill Bunbury moved on from Glastonbury to become a writer, radio broadcaster, and producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

Athletes and sports players from Glastonbury include cricketers Cyril Baily in 1880, George Burrough in 1907, and Eustace Bisgood in 1878. The footballer Peter Spiring was born in Glastonbury in 1950. Formula 1 driver Lando Norris grew up in Glastonbury.

 

Twin towns

France Bretenoux, France

Greece Patmos, Greece

Ethiopia Lalibela, Ethiopia

 

Freedom of the Town

Michael Eavis: 3 May 2022. The founder of the world-famous Glastonbury Festival has been made a Freeman of Glastonbury. Born in 1935, the celebrated dairy farmer held his first Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton in 1970. 52 years later, Mr. Eavis has been listed by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

 

The Key of Avalon

This award was created in 2022 by the Glastonbury Town Council. The first recipient was Prem Rawat, international peace advocate and author, who spoke at the Glastonbury Festival in 1971.

 

Somerset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east and the north-east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath, and the county town is Taunton.

 

Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of 4,171 km2 (1,610 sq mi) and a population of 965,424. After Bath (101,557), the largest settlements are Weston-super-Mare (82,418), Taunton (60,479), and Yeovil (49,698). Wells (12,000) is a city, the second-smallest by population in England. For local government purposes the county comprises three unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset.

 

The centre of Somerset is dominated by the Levels, a coastal plain and wetland, and the north-east and west of the county are hilly. The north-east contains part of the Cotswolds AONB, all of the Mendip Hills AONB, and a small part of Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB; the west contains the Quantock Hills AONB, a majority of Exmoor National Park, and part of the Blackdown Hills AONB. The main rivers in the county are the Avon, which flows through Bath and then Bristol, and the Axe, Brue, and Parrett, which drain the Levels.

 

There is evidence of Paleolithic human occupation in Somerset, and the area was subsequently settled by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great's rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. In the later medieval period its wealth allowed its monasteries and parish churches to be rebuilt in grand style; Glastonbury Abbey was particularly important, and claimed to house the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The county is also the location of Glastonbury Festival, one of the UK's major music festivals.

 

Somerset is a historic county in the south west of England. There is evidence of human occupation since prehistoric times with hand axes and flint points from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras, and a range of burial mounds, hill forts and other artefacts dating from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. The oldest dated human road work in Great Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BCE.

 

Following the Roman Empire's invasion of southern Britain, the mining of lead and silver in the Mendip Hills provided a basis for local industry and commerce. Bath became the site of a major Roman fort and city, the remains of which can still be seen. During the Early Medieval period Somerset was the scene of battles between the Anglo-Saxons and first the Britons and later the Danes. In this period it was ruled first by various kings of Wessex, and later by kings of England. Following the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy by the Normans in 1066, castles were built in Somerset.

 

Expansion of the population and settlements in the county continued during the Tudor and more recent periods. Agriculture and coal mining expanded until the 18th century, although other industries declined during the industrial revolution. In modern times the population has grown, particularly in the seaside towns, notably Weston-super-Mare. Agriculture continues to be a major business, if no longer a major employer because of mechanisation. Light industries are based in towns such as Bridgwater and Yeovil. The towns of Taunton and Shepton Mallet manufacture cider, although the acreage of apple orchards is less than it once was.

 

The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods saw hunter-gatherers move into the region of Somerset. There is evidence from flint artefacts in a quarry at Westbury that an ancestor of modern man, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, was present in the area from around 500,000 years ago. There is still some doubt about whether the artefacts are of human origin but they have been dated within Oxygen Isotope Stage 13 (524,000 – 478,000 BP). Other experts suggest that "many of the bone-rich Middle Pleistocene deposits belong to a single but climatically variable interglacial that succeeded the Cromerian, perhaps about 500,000 years ago. Detailed analysis of the origin and modification of the flint artefacts leads to the conclusion that the assemblage was probably a product of geomorphological processes rather than human work, but a single cut-marked bone suggests a human presence." Animal bones and artefacts unearthed in the 1980s at Westbury-sub-Mendip, in Somerset, have shown evidence of early human activity approximately 700,000 years ago.

 

Homo sapiens sapiens, or modern man, came to Somerset during the Early Upper Palaeolithic. There is evidence of occupation of four Mendip caves 35,000 to 30,000 years ago. During the Last Glacial Maximum, about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, it is probable that Somerset was deserted as the area experienced tundra conditions. Evidence was found in Gough's Cave of deposits of human bone dating from around 12,500 years ago. The bones were defleshed and probably ritually buried though perhaps related to cannibalism being practised in the area at the time or making skull cups or storage containers. Somerset was one of the first areas of future England settled following the end of Younger Dryas phase of the last ice age c. 8000 BC. Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge. He is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton. The remains date from about 7150 BC, and it appears that he died a violent death. Somerset is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from about 6000 BCE; Mesolithic artefacts have been found in more than 70 locations. Mendip caves were used as burial places, with between 50 and 100 skeletons being found in Aveline's Hole. In the Neolithic era, from about 3500 BCE, there is evidence of farming.

 

At the end of the last ice age the Bristol Channel was dry land, but later the sea level rose, particularly between 1220 and 900 BC and between 800 and 470 BCE, resulting in major coastal changes. The Somerset Levels became flooded, but the dry points such as Glastonbury and Brent Knoll have a long history of settlement, and are known to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunters. The county has prehistoric burial mounds (such as Stoney Littleton Long Barrow), stone rows (such as the circles at Stanton Drew and Priddy) and settlement sites. Evidence of Mesolithic occupation has come both from the upland areas, such as in Mendip caves, and from the low land areas such as the Somerset Levels. Dry points in the latter such as Glastonbury Tor and Brent Knoll, have a long history of settlement with wooden trackways between them. There were also "lake villages" in the marsh such as those at Glastonbury Lake Village and Meare. One of the oldest dated human road work in Britain is the Sweet Track, constructed across the Somerset Levels with wooden planks in the 39th century BC, partially on the route of the even earlier Post Track.

 

There is evidence of Exmoor's human occupation from Mesolithic times onwards. In the Neolithic period people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunter gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make tools, weapons, containers and ornaments in bronze and then iron started in the late Neolithic and into the Bronze and Iron Ages.

 

The caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Neolithic period and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge. There are numerous Iron Age Hill Forts, which were later reused in the Dark Ages, such as Cadbury Castle, Worlebury Camp and Ham Hill. The age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but is believed to be from the Neolithic period. There is evidence of mining on the Mendip Hills back into the late Bronze Age when there were technological changes in metal working indicated by the use of lead. There are numerous "hill forts", such as Small Down Knoll, Solsbury Hill, Dolebury Warren and Burledge Hill, which seem to have had domestic purposes, not just a defensive role. They generally seem to have been occupied intermittently from the Bronze Age onward, some, such as Cadbury Camp at South Cadbury, being refurbished during different eras. Battlegore Burial Chamber is a Bronze Age burial chamber at Williton which is composed of three round barrows and possibly a long, chambered barrow.

 

The Iron Age tribes of later Somerset were the Dobunni in north Somerset, Durotriges in south Somerset and Dumnonii in west Somerset. The first and second produced coins, the finds of which allows their tribal areas to be suggested, but the latter did not. All three had a Celtic culture and language. However, Ptolemy stated that Bath was in the territory of the Belgae, but this may be a mistake. The Celtic gods were worshipped at the temple of Sulis at Bath and possibly the temple on Brean Down. Iron Age sites on the Quantock Hills, include major hill forts at Dowsborough and Ruborough, as well as smaller earthwork enclosures, such as Trendle Ring, Elworthy Barrows and Plainsfield Camp.

 

Somerset was part of the Roman Empire from 47 AD to about 409 AD. However, the end was not abrupt and elements of Romanitas lingered on for perhaps a century.

 

Somerset was invaded from the south-east by the Second Legion Augusta, under the future emperor Vespasian. The hillforts of the Durotriges at Ham Hill and Cadbury Castle were captured. Ham Hill probably had a temporary Roman occupation. The massacre at Cadbury Castle seems to have been associated with the later Boudiccan Revolt of 60–61 AD. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around 409 AD.

 

The Roman invasion, and possibly the preceding period of involvement in the internal affairs of the south of England, was inspired in part by the potential of the Mendip Hills. A great deal of the attraction of the lead mines may have been the potential for the extraction of silver.

 

Forts were set up at Bath and Ilchester. The lead and silver mines at Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills were run by the military. The Romans established a defensive boundary along the new military road known the Fosse Way (from the Latin fossa meaning ditch). The Fosse Way ran through Bath, Shepton Mallet, Ilchester and south-west towards Axminster. The road from Dorchester ran through Yeovil to meet the Fosse Way at Ilchester. Small towns and trading ports were set up, such as Camerton and Combwich. The larger towns decayed in the latter part of the period, though the smaller ones appear to have decayed less. In the latter part of the period, Ilchester seems to have been a "civitas" capital and Bath may also have been one. Particularly to the east of the River Parrett, villas were constructed. However, only a few Roman sites have been found to the west of the river. The villas have produced important mosaics and artifacts. Cemeteries have been found outside the Roman towns of Somerset and by Roman temples such as that at Lamyatt. Romano-British farming settlements, such as those at Catsgore and Sigwells, have been found in Somerset. There was salt production on the Somerset Levels near Highbridge and quarrying took place near Bath, where the Roman Baths gave their name to Bath.

 

Excavations carried out before the flooding of Chew Valley Lake also uncovered Roman remains, indicating agricultural and industrial activity from the second half of the 1st century until the 3rd century AD. The finds included a moderately large villa at Chew Park, where wooden writing tablets (the first in the UK) with ink writing were found. There is also evidence from the Pagans Hill Roman Temple at Chew Stoke. In October 2001 the West Bagborough Hoard of 4th century Roman silver was discovered in West Bagborough. The 681 coins included two denarii from the early 2nd century and 8 Miliarense and 671 Siliqua all dating to the period AD 337 – 367. The majority were struck in the reigns of emperors Constantius II and Julian and derive from a range of mints including Arles and Lyons in France, Trier in Germany and Rome.

 

In April 2010, the Frome Hoard, one of the largest-ever hoards of Roman coins discovered in Britain, was found by a metal detectorist. The hoard of 52,500 coins dated from the 3rd century AD and was found buried in a field near Frome, in a jar 14 inches (36 cm) below the surface. The coins were excavated by archaeologists from the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

 

This is the period from about 409 AD to the start of Saxon political control, which was mainly in the late 7th century, though they are said to have captured the Bath area in 577 AD. Initially the Britons of Somerset seem to have continued much as under the Romans but without the imperial taxation and markets. There was then a period of civil war in Britain though it is not known how this affected Somerset. The Western Wandsdyke may have been constructed in this period but archaeological data shows that it was probably built during the 5th or 6th century. This area became the border between the Romano-British Celts and the West Saxons following the Battle of Deorham in 577 AD. The ditch is on the north side, so presumably it was used by the Celts as a defence against Saxons encroaching from the upper Thames Valley. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Saxon Cenwalh achieved a breakthrough against the British Celtic tribes, with victories at Bradford-on-Avon (in the Avon Gap in the Wansdyke) in 65

“For as we abolish the ills and pains of the flesh we multiply those of the mind, so by the time mankind are finally delivered from disease and decay - all pasteurised, their genes counted and re-arranged, filled with new replaceable plastic organs.” --Malcolm Muggeridge

     

Laura.

The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office in 1871 meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared rather than the Hundred of Booyoolee. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura subdivided but it was soon amalgamated into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.

 

Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.

 

After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was built in 1883 to the design of Adelaide architect Daniel Garlick.

 

The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and was then immediately re-built. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced and marketed the BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction with the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.

 

Laura.

The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.

 

Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.

 

After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was added in 1883 to the design of Port Pirie architect William Mallyon.

 

The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.

 

Fitzpatrick, Jim, 1916-

 

Title devised by cataloguer from caption on verso.; Condition: Good.; Part of the collection: Drouin town and rural life during World War II.; "U429/22. 80 lb cheeses for the Allied servicemen on Pacific battlefronts roll down the production line at the Drouin co-operative milk factory, in which farmers who supply the milk own the shares. The factory sends out pasteurised milk for Melbourne ...."--Printed on label.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24284419.

 

Persistent URL

nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24284419

Laura.

The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.

 

Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.

 

After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was added in 1883 to the design of Port Pirie architect William Mallyon.

 

The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.

 

There is no sight more visceral, or more thrilling in sport than a knock-out in boxing.

 

Yes, there are contenders - a Messi dribble past a series of bewildered defenders before a sumptuous chip over the keeper; a Viv Richards mid-wicket blast for six; Michael Holding’s bowler’s glide; Jordan’s leap - but even these glorious sights must defer to the single clean punch that settles a fight.

 

Frankly, the shot from Roy Jones that took the legs away from Montell Griffin, in their second and conclusive grudge match (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCr_igXBWRk), the short right hand from Juan Manuel Marquez that sent

Manny Pacquiao to sleep in their fourth fight (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IlV5Iq9oAA)

and Kostya Tszyu's epic climax against Zab Judah (www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYhvV6Im1kU) are among the most memorable and aesthetically-pleasing sights ever witnessed in a professional boxing ring.

 

I know .. I know .. I'm going straight to hell, when I die!

 

Canelo Alvarez literally knocked the snot out of Amir Khan in their 2016 fight (www.youtube.com/watch?v=v977m7lUTEU).

 

Floyd Mayweather's perfectly-executed, left-hook thunder clip that made Ricky Hatton headbutt the ring post (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mz84dXgqbA) is another shot which must be considered among boxing's sweetest moments.

 

Who can forget what Sergio Martinez did to Paul Williams with a staggering single punch (www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTWylfLdCcc) or the sight of Jamaican warrior Trevor Berbick, falling down and then getting up, only to fall down again and again, after being thumped by the epoch-defining 'Iron' Mike Tyson (www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AJA9qu1Fr0).

 

Tyson's hypnotic appeal is inextricably linked to the appetite for concussive savagery he displayed during a golden period between 1985 and 1990 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir01PM2LT-4).

 

Many attribute the recent resurgence in British boxing to Carl Froch's punch perfect violent destruction of George Groves in May 2014.

 

Some 80,000 blood-thirsty fans were transfixed, as the Londoner was stopped in the eighth round of an epic domestic grudge rematch, by a right hand sledgehammer with which Froch duly achieved legendary status in the United Kingdom (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6juQJR0QT7E).

 

Before that Wembly slugfest, Julian Jackson did much the same to the English lion Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham.

 

In Round 4, the fight was all but lost. Jackson, his eye closing, was facing imminent defeat. All Graham had to do was to keep on doing what he was doing so well - jab and move.

 

Then, from nowhere, Jackson unleashed a thunderous right hook and Graham was out cold before his head hit the canvas (www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_EEeixw5yA).

 

"Oh, no!" lamented the commentator. "Oh, yes!" screamed I and the millions of boxing fans who had tuned in hoping for such an outcome.

 

In 1974, the eighth round punch that Muhammad Ali delivered that sent George Foreman spinning to the canvas, was the pivotal event that made the ‘Rumble In The Jungle,’ one of the greatest sporting events in history (www.youtube.com/watch?v=55AasOJZzDE).

 

And for boxing purists, check-out the showreel of the murderous Edwin Valero (www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDKDreooONc)

 

His career of 27 fights and 27 knock-outs was only halted when he committed suicide in a Venezuelan jail, after being accused of stabbing his wife to death.

 

All of these events came to me as television entertainment, with the violence pasteurised by cameras, commentary, pundits and distance.

 

Seeing a man knocked out live is quite another matter.

 

You could have heard a pin drop last Saturday night in the Schiltigheim arena, when a local boxer was sent to the floor by the dangerous Sonny Kaestler and then didn’t move.

 

The fight was barely a few minutes old. Normally, amateur sluggers start slowly, sizing up the opposition as they find their rhythm.

 

This may explain the visceral shock that was felt at ringside, as the man lay motionless on the canvas.

 

I photographed the fighter as he recovered his senses, wrestling with my conscience and my voyeurism, feeling that I was intruding on an intense and private moment, played out in front of 600 or more spectators.

 

I remembered what George Foreman said about his feelings upon losing to Ali. He felt ashamed. Thereafter, people didn’t look at him the same way. He was no longer immortal. Now, he was a loser, just like the rest of us.

 

I wondered what a devastating knock-out does to the psyche of a boxer? Will there always be doubt in the chin’s ability to withstand the next big punch? Or, will the boxer just admit to having been caught cold and move on?

 

This was my first live knock-out.

 

The thrill is gone (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdNpuPWspQk&list=RDAIOAlaACuv...)!

 

And it's the tear in this man's eye that did it!

Laura.

The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.

 

Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.

 

After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was added in 1883 to the design of Port Pirie architect William Mallyon.

 

The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.

 

Laura. The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers. Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for some years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop. The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper. Add a description

Laura.

The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.

 

Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for some years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.

  

The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.

 

William Johnston migrated from Glasgow to SA in 1839 with his wife and seven children. In 1840 he obtained some land which he called Oakbank. He had worked as a distiller in Scotland and soon began brewing beer for the local market as well as farming. By 1844 he had sown 50 acres in wheat, 12 acres in barley and four acres in potatoes. His sons James( 1818-1891) and Andrew ( 1827-1886) became pioneering Scots of the district. With their father William they started a brewery in 1843 as there was a good local supply of water- the Onkaparinga River. Father William died in 1853 and the two brothers took over the brewery. They manufactured cordials and aerated waters as well as beer and they later joined the Lion Brewery in Adelaide and they founded another brewery of their own in Broken Hill. The brothers owned around 2,500 acres in the district and in 1860 they subdivided some of their land to form almost a company town which they named Oakbank after a factory in their hometown of Glasgow. They bought up many of the town blocks and provided some housing for their workers. Earlier in 1850 they had done likewise with the foundation of Woodside which they named after a village they knew in Scotland near Dundee. But Oakbank was their hometown with their own mansions. Oakbank House (James Johnston) is near the racecourse and near the brewery. It was built around 1865 as a grand two-storey house with wrought iron balconies and lace work, blue stone, bay window and all in the Italianate style. The fine proportions of the house were set off with a long driveway lined with gum trees. The lace wrought iron work was imported from a Glasgow foundry! The Johnstons were not short of money by this time! Brewing was a profitable industry. The original house that Andrew built was further away from the Onkaparinga River in Pike Street called Dalintober, built around 1855. Unfortunately there is not much visible of this grand house from the street. Both James and Andrew worshipped at the Church of Scotland, Presbyterian, at nearby Inverbrackie where they were later buried.

 

The Oakbank brewery reached its peak in the 1890s for beer production before the pasteurisation of beer became common and most country breweries closed as production was concentrated in Adelaide. Their hops came from Lobethal, Woodside and Tasmania for their beer. They employed around 20 men and had horses carting brewed beer to Strathalbyn, Hahndorf, Mt Barker, Nairne etc. They supplied the annual race meeting at Oakbank as the racing club had been formed in 1874 on part of Andrew Johnston’s land. Andrew was a founding member of the Oakbank Racing Club. Once Andrew died in 1886 and brother James in 1891 the next generation of sons expanded the Johnston Brewery company. They formed a family company in 1901 and expanded the number of Johnston owned hotels from Woodside (1850) to over 20 hotels. They stopped producing beer in 1914 but their factory still produces aerated waters (soft drinks). The Johnston family company still owns 19 SA hotels from Milang to Mt Pleasant, Callington, Mannum and more. Since 2002 they have started producing their own wine. They are thought to be the longest surviving SA family company. There was a rival brewer in Oakbank from 1885 when Henry Pike, an Englishman, established a second brewery in town. He too purchased a chain of hotels before ceasing to produce beer from 1938 when the Pike brewery too concentrated on cordials and aerated drinks. The Pikes factory finally closed in 1973. The Johnstons were great local benefactors donating land for the RSL in Woodside, the oval at Stirling next to the hotel that they then owned, and the institute land at Littlehampton etc.

 

There are few public buildings in Oakbank but the Primitive Methodists did erect a church in the town in 1863. They built a second church next to the original one in 1887. It is now a private residence. When the branch railway line from Balhannah to Mt Pleasant was put through in 1919 it passed close by this Methodist church. The train line was especially used to transport thousands of racer goers to the Easter Racing Carnival at Oakbank each year.

 

Laura. The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers. Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for some years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop. The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper. Add a description

Laura. Like Gladstone this town has around 600 people. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the school opening in 1873, the Wesleyan Church in 1873 and the brewery in 1876. A butter factory opened in 1898. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now a museum), the old post office and police station and the school. The town’s claim to fame is that the poet C.J Dennis was born in Laura in 1876 but he lived in many SA towns before he left for Victoria. The old brewery was sited on the banks of the Rocky River as a reliable water supply was necessary for successful breweries. Not far away in the hills of the Southern Flinders Ranges is Beetaloo Reservoir which was constructed between 1888 and 1890 to provide fresh water for the copper triangle towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo. The reservoir has been increased in capacity in 1927 and again in 1979. The town also had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built. The mill machinery was manufactured in the foundries at Gawler and operated into the 1930s. During World War Two Laura had a flax mill to produce canvas. Crops of flax were grown from Wirrabara to Laura. It closed in 1947. As early as 1891 Laura had a dairy factory to process milk and make butter, some of which was railed to Broken Hill.

 

Laura has been home to Golden North ice cream since 1923. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business, and they have since expanded production, including the famous honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006.

 

Curiosity got the best of me tonight and I decided to cut open a can of

Guinness in order to have a closer look at the "widget".

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The "floating widget" found in cans of beer is a hollow sphere, 3 cm in diameter. The can is pressurised by adding liquid nitrogen, which vaporises and expands in

volume after the can is sealed, forcing gas and beer into the widget's

hollow interior through a tiny hole - the less beer the better for

subsequent head quality. In addition some nitrogen dissolves in the beer

which also contains dissolved carbon dioxide. The presence of dissolved

nitrogen allows smaller bubbles to be formed with consequent greater

creaminess of the subsequent head. This is because the smaller bubbles need

a higher internal pressure to balance the greater surface tension, which is

inversely proportional to the radius of the bubbles. Achieving this higher

pressure is not possible just with dissolved carbon dioxide because the much

greater solubility of this gas compared to nitrogen would create an

unacceptably large head. When the can is opened, the pressure in the can

drops, causing the pressurised gas and beer inside the widget to jet out

from the hole. This agitation on the surrounding beer causes a chain

reaction of bubble formation throughout the beer. The result, when the can

is then poured out, is a surging mixture in the glass of very small gas

bubbles and liquid, just as is the case with certain types of draught beer such as draught stouts. In the case of these draught beers, which also contain before dispensing a

mixture of dissolved nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the agitation is caused by

forcing the beer under pressure through small holes in a restrictor in the

tap. The surging mixture gradually settles to produce a very creamy head.

The original widget was patented in the UK by Guinness.

 

The word "widget" as applied to this device is a trademark of the Guinness

brewery.

 

Background

 

Draught Guinness as it is known today was first produced in 1964. With

Guinness keen to produce Draught in package for consumers to drink at home,

Bottled Draught Guinness was formulated in 1978 and launched into the Irish

market in 1979. It was never actively marketed internationally as it

required an initiator which looked rather like a syringe to make it work.

 

Development

 

The initial inventors of generating draught Guinness from cans or bottles by

means of a sudden gas discharge from an internal compartment when the can or

bottle is opened were Tony Carey and Sammy Hildebrand, brewers with Guinness

in Dublin, in 1968. This invention was patented by them in British Patent No

1266351, filed 1969-01-27, complete specification published 1972-03-08. Development work on a can system under Project ACORN focused on an arrangement whereby a false lid underneath the main lid formed the gas chamber. Technical difficulties led to a

decision to put the can route on hold and concentrate on bottles using

external initiators. Subsequently, Guinness allowed this patent to lapse and

it was not until Ernest Saunders centralised R & D in 1984 that work

re-started on this invention under the direction of Alan Forage.

 

The design of an internal compartment that could be readily inserted during

the canning process was devised by Alan Forage and William Byrne, and work

started on the widget during the period 1984/85. The plan was to introduce a

plastic capsule into the can, pressurise it during the filling process and

then allow it to release this pressure in a controlled manner when the can

was being opened. This would be sufficient to initiate the product and give

it the characteristic creamy head. However, it was pointed out by Tony Carey

that this resulted in beer being forced into the 'widget' during

pasteurisation with consequent very poor head quality. He suggested

overcoming this by rapidly inverting the can after the lid was seamed on.

This extra innovation was successful.

 

It is important that oxygen is eliminated from any process developed as this can cause flavour deterioration when present.

 

The first samples sent to Dublin were labelled "Project Dynamite", which

caused some delay before customs and excise would release the samples.

Because of this the name was changed to Oaktree. Another name that changed

was 'inserts' - the operators called them widgets almost immediately after

they arrived on site - a name that has now stuck with the industry.

 

The development of ideas continued. In fact over 100 alternatives were

considered. The blow moulded widget was to be pierced with a laser and a

blower was then necessary to blow away the plume created by the laser

burning through the polypropylene. This was abandoned and instead it was

decided to gas exchange air for nitrogen on the filler, and produce the

inserts with a hole in place using straight forward and cheaper injection

moulding techniques.

 

Commissioning began January 1988, with a national launch date of March 1989.

 

This first generation widget was a plastic disk held by friction in the

bottom of the can. This method worked fine if the beer was served cold; when

served warm the can would overflow when opened. The floating widget, which

was launched in 1997, does not have this problem.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widget_(beer)

Amo a mis cajitas =), son mas bellas =D, foto tomada desde el balcón de mi casa.

Seen here, a wedge of Stilton made by Tuxford & Tebbutt, Thorpe End, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 1RE, UK.

 

The English, whom have little or no reputation for any type food - save, perhaps for a few beers, and their unremarkably bland dish known as "fish & chips" (potatoes & fish, both deep fried) - have at least one example of an outstanding food - Stilton, a blue-veined cheese which also enjoys EU Protected Food Status (similarly to Champagne, the sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France) and is ONLY made by 6 dairies in England.

 

Here's what the Official Stilton Cheese website says about the cheese:

 

"Quintessentially English, Stilton has its own Certification Trade Mark and is an EU Protected Food Name.

 

"This means that:

• it can only be produced in the three Counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire

• it must be made from locally produced milk that has been pasteurised before use

• it can only be made in a cylindrical shape

• it must be allowed to form its own coat or crust

• it must never be pressed and

• it must have the magical blue veins radiating from the centre of the cheese."

Homemade plain yogurt with blueberries. Dusted freeze-dried blueberry powder on top. Ingredients yogurt are pasteurised whole milk and yogurt culture. Borage flower garnish. Served in glass. Decorative surface. Light effect. High point of view.

Laura. The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers. Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for some years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop. The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper. Add a description

Oakbank - a town of two breweries and the Johnston brothers.

James Johnston and his brother William Johnston migrated from Glasgow to the Woodside area in 1839 obtaining some land in 1840 which they called Oakbank. By 1844 they had sown 50 acres in wheat, 12 acres in barley and four acres in potatoes. James and William started a brewery in 1843 as there was a good local supply of water- the Onkaparinga River. In 1853 the brewery took in brother Andrew in partnership when William died. They manufactured cordials and aerated waters as well as beer and they later joined the Lion brewery in Adelaide and they founded another brewery of their own in Broken Hill. The Oakbank brewery reached its peak in the 1890s for beer production before the pasteurisation of beer became common and most country breweries closed as production was concentrated in Adelaide. Their hops came from Lobethal, Woodside and Tasmania for their beer. They supplied the annual race meeting at Oakbank as the racing club had been formed in 1874. James died in 1891 and Andrew Johnston died in 1886. It was their sons who formed a company in 1901 and expanded the number of Johnston owned hotels from Woodside (1850) to over 20. They stopped producing beer in 1914 but their factory still produces aerated waters (soft drinks). The Johnston family company still owns 19 SA hotels from Milang to Mt Pleasant, Callington, Mannum and more. Since 2002 they have started producing their own wine. They are thought to be the longest surviving SA family company. There was a rival brewer in Oakbank from 1885 when Henry Pike established a second brewery in town. He too purchased a chain of hotels before ceasing to produce beer from 1938 when the Pike brewery too concentrated on cordials and aerated drinks. The Pikes factory finally closed in 1973.

 

But it was the Johnstons who planned and developed a town at Oakbank in 1860 when they subdivided some of their land. They almost saw it as their company town with their buildings and brewery and their grand homes. Oakbank House (James Johnston) is near the racecourse and near the brewery. It was built around 1865 as a grand two storey house with wrought iron balconies and lace work, blue stone, bay window and all in the Italianate style. The fine proportions of the house were set off with a long driveway lined with gum trees. The lace wrought iron work for this house was imported from a Glasgow foundry! The Johnstons were not short of money by this time! Brewing was a profitable industry. The original house that Andrew built was further away from the Onkaparinga River in Pike Street called Dalintober, built around 1855. Unfortunately there is not much visible of this grand house from the street. It was James Johnston who subdivided some of his land to form the town of Woodside in 1850. The early Oakbank races were held on Andrew Johnston’s land and he was a founding club member in 1874. Heinrich Von Doussa was the first secretary of the Oakbank races, a position he held for almost 50 years.

 

German colony Waldheim, German-Palestine Architecture.

 

The settlement was inaugurated on the occasion of Harvest Festival (German: Erntedankfest) on October 6, 1907. Then, the new Waldheimers still lived in the simple clay huts bought from the previous owners. The Haifa engineer Ernst August Voigt presented the plan of the streets and the 16 sites around a central site, reserved for a church. In 1909 the Jerusalemsverein (English: Association of Jerusalem), a Berlin-based organisation supportive of Protestant activities in the Holy Land, contributed money for the development of a water supply. By 1914, the Waldheimers planted vineyards of 5,000 square meters and more than 500 olive trees. In December 1913, the farmers of Waldheim and Bethlehem keeping dairy cattle founded a common dairy cooperative to pasteurise milk and deliver it to Haifa.

 

After 1939, all Germans in Palestine turned into Enemy aliens. Some of the settlers with patriotic feelings went to Germany to join the war. Several were organised in Palestine in Nazi-organisations such as Hitler Youth, but many others were not. The British authorities decided to intern most of the enemy aliens. For this purpose four settlements Sarona, Bethlehem, Waldheim and Wilhelma were converted into internment camps. In summer 1941, 665 German internees, almost all young families with children, were released to Australia, where they could settle again. Many of the remaining Germans were either too old or too sick, to leave for Australia, while a second group did not want to go there. In December 1941 and in the course of 1942 another 400 German internees, mostly wives and children of men, who had followed the calls for recruitment and had left for Germany, were released to Germany on the purpose of Family reunification. By that time, almost all Nazi supporters or partriots among the settlers had left Palestine.

 

In 1945 the Italian and Hungarian internees were released from Bethlehem and the other camps. But the Britons refused to repatriate the remaining German internees to the British zone in Germany, because the British zone was flooded with millions of war refugees. Also most of the internees did not want to go to Germany, they had their home in Palestine. In 1947 the British authorities and Australia agreed to allow the remaining German internees to emigrate to the fifth continent. The end of the Mandate forced to hurry the resettlement, thus all the internees were first transferred to Cyprus, to a camp of simple tents near Famagusta. The internees of Bethlehem could leave the place safely.

 

On 17 April 1948, armed entities of the Haganah entered Waldheim, with the few British soldiers under camp commander Alan Tilbury unable to impede them, killing two colonists and severely wounding a woman. (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonei_Abba).

 

By May 14, 1948, when Israel became independent, only about 50 Gentile Germans, mostly elderly and sick persons, were living in the new state. They voluntarily left the country or were successively expelled by the government.

Laura.

The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers.

 

Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. But Laura did not remain a rail terminus. The rail lines were extended to Booleroo Centre in 1910 and then on to Melrose and Wilmington in 1919. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for most of his childhood and youth years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. The Masonic Lodge was formed in Laura in 1878. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop.

 

After erecting the first hotels and churches country towns looked to education facilities. In Laura a school opened in 1874 in a small church before the first state school was built in 1877. Additional classrooms were added to the 1877 building in 1883. More buildings have opened since the 1950s. In the 1870s churches were often built of pine and pug with thatched rooves and they were demolished within a couple of decades. The Wesleyan Methodists built the first church in Laura in 1873 opposite the location of the current school. They replaced this structure with their grand stone church in the Main Street in 1888. It is still in use in the Main Street but it is now Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Lutherans purchased this building in the year 2000. The Lutherans also purchased the Primitive Methodist Church in Samuel Street in Laura which was built in 1876. They bought it in 1904, demolished it in 1908 and opened their Easter Lutheran Church on the site in 1909. The Baptist congregation in Laura was strong and they built their church in 1875 and it is still in use by the Baptists. The Catholics built an early church in 1877 with a nearby convent at the same time on land on the outskirts of Laura which was donated by a local farmer Mr Rollison. Both were demolished in 1929 to make way for the current fine Catholic Church. The Anglicans built a church in Laura in 1875 and because Herbert Bristow Hughes of Booyoolee and his family worshiped there he donated funds for the addition of the chancel. The chancel was added in 1883 to the design of Port Pirie architect William Mallyon.

 

The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper.

 

Laura. The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers. Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for some years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop. The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper. Add a description

William Johnston migrated from Glasgow to SA in 1839 with his wife and seven children. In 1840 he obtained some land which he called Oakbank. He had worked as a distiller in Scotland and soon began brewing beer for the local market as well as farming. By 1844 he had sown 50 acres in wheat, 12 acres in barley and four acres in potatoes. His sons James( 1818-1891) and Andrew ( 1827-1886) became pioneering Scots of the district. With their father William they started a brewery in 1843 as there was a good local supply of water- the Onkaparinga River. Father William died in 1853 and the two brothers took over the brewery. They manufactured cordials and aerated waters as well as beer and they later joined the Lion Brewery in Adelaide and they founded another brewery of their own in Broken Hill. The brothers owned around 2,500 acres in the district and in 1860 they subdivided some of their land to form almost a company town which they named Oakbank after a factory in their hometown of Glasgow. They bought up many of the town blocks and provided some housing for their workers. Earlier in 1850 they had done likewise with the foundation of Woodside which they named after a village they knew in Scotland near Dundee. But Oakbank was their hometown with their own mansions. Oakbank House (James Johnston) is near the racecourse and near the brewery. It was built around 1865 as a grand two-storey house with wrought iron balconies and lace work, blue stone, bay window and all in the Italianate style. The fine proportions of the house were set off with a long driveway lined with gum trees. The lace wrought iron work was imported from a Glasgow foundry! The Johnstons were not short of money by this time! Brewing was a profitable industry. The original house that Andrew built was further away from the Onkaparinga River in Pike Street called Dalintober, built around 1855. Unfortunately there is not much visible of this grand house from the street. Both James and Andrew worshipped at the Church of Scotland, Presbyterian, at nearby Inverbrackie where they were later buried.

 

The Oakbank brewery reached its peak in the 1890s for beer production before the pasteurisation of beer became common and most country breweries closed as production was concentrated in Adelaide. Their hops came from Lobethal, Woodside and Tasmania for their beer. They employed around 20 men and had horses carting brewed beer to Strathalbyn, Hahndorf, Mt Barker, Nairne etc. They supplied the annual race meeting at Oakbank as the racing club had been formed in 1874 on part of Andrew Johnston’s land. Andrew was a founding member of the Oakbank Racing Club. Once Andrew died in 1886 and brother James in 1891 the next generation of sons expanded the Johnston Brewery company. They formed a family company in 1901 and expanded the number of Johnston owned hotels from Woodside (1850) to over 20 hotels. They stopped producing beer in 1914 but their factory still produces aerated waters (soft drinks). The Johnston family company still owns 19 SA hotels from Milang to Mt Pleasant, Callington, Mannum and more. Since 2002 they have started producing their own wine. They are thought to be the longest surviving SA family company. There was a rival brewer in Oakbank from 1885 when Henry Pike, an Englishman, established a second brewery in town. He too purchased a chain of hotels before ceasing to produce beer from 1938 when the Pike brewery too concentrated on cordials and aerated drinks. The Pikes factory finally closed in 1973. The Johnstons were great local benefactors donating land for the RSL in Woodside, the oval at Stirling next to the hotel that they then owned, and the institute land at Littlehampton etc.

 

There are few public buildings in Oakbank but the Primitive Methodists did erect a church in the town in 1863. They built a second church next to the original one in 1887. It is now a private residence. When the branch railway line from Balhannah to Mt Pleasant was put through in 1919 it passed close by this Methodist church. The train line was especially used to transport thousands of racer goers to the Easter Racing Carnival at Oakbank each year.

 

Laura. The land around the small town of Laura was originally part of Booyoolee sheep station based in Gladstone which was leased by Herbert Bristow Hughes and Bristow Herbert Hughes from 1843. They soon had a run of 200 square miles and the partnership split with Herbert Hughes retaining Booyoolee and Bristow Hughes developing Bundaleer sheep run from 1846. After the passing of the credit selection land acts of 1869 and 1872 large areas of Booyoolee station were resumed by the government for closer settlement and the arrival of grain farmers rather than pastoralists. But a clerical error in the Lands Office meant the Hundred of Booyoolie was declared with that alternate spelling when surveying began and the Hundred was named in 1871. Herbert Bristow Hughes married Laura White of Wirrabara run and so the governor of SA named the new township Laura after Herbert Hughes’ wife. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the first school opening, the Wesleyan Church, the former Laura Hotel (now a shop shop) and the brewery all opening in 1873. Of these buildings the Laura Hotel was the first stone building erected in the town. It closed in 1998. Based beside the Rocky River in well-watered country the town grew rapidly. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. However just to the north of North Laura the land was purchased from the original land owner by the state government in 1893 at considerable cost to create a number of Working Men’s Blocks as part of the Cotton government scheme to assist working men to live on small blocks of around 10 acres. This area just north of the town is still known as Laura Blocks and the properties are all around 10 to 20 acres. In the 1890s at a time of great depression the blocks allowed working men to lease the land cheaply from the government in order to grow vegetables, plant fruit trees, keep a cow and a pig, perhaps some bees and poultry to supplement their waged incomes. The land was eventually offered for sale to the blockers or to other settlers. Like all agricultural areas the grain farmers wanted access to good transport. The first wheat crops were carted by bullock teams or horses and drays through Hughes Gap near Crystal Brook down to the port at Port Pirie. But this need was redundant once the train line was extended from Gladstone to Laura in 1884. A fine stone gable ended railway station was built in Laura shortly after 1884 but alas it has now been demolished and the rail tracks torn up. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now the art gallery) which was built in 1877, the old post office first built around 1874 and the former Police Station in the Main Street built in in 1878 and closed in 1968. The old Institute was built in 1875 but later demolished to make way for an ugly Civic Centre in the 1968. In front of that Civic Centre is a bust of Clarence J. Dennis whilst there is a larger than life statue of him in the Main Street. C. J Dennis the famous poet and story writer was born in Auburn in 1876 but lived for some years in Laura before he eventually moved to Melbourne. In 1890 C.J. Dennis began work at the solicitor’s office in the Main Street as a junior law clerk. Dennis left Laura in 1898 when he fell out with his father the publican of one of the Laura Hotels. Between the Civic Centre and the old Courthouse is the fine Masonic Lodge which was built in 1908 but is now used by the local history society as an archive. Other buildings of note are the classical style single room fronted Solicitors Offices in the Main Street near Bristow Street where C.J Dennis was employed and the former Bank of South Australia on the corner of White Street. The main chamber on the Main Street was built late in 1922 but walk down White Street and you can see the old bank with half rounded windows behind it. That part of the bank was built in 1878. It is opposite the former Laura hotel which is now the soap shop. The town had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built immediately. The mill machinery was manufactured in the May Brothers foundry at Gawler. New machinery was added to the mill in 1893 and it was eventually taken over by the Laura Milling Company in 1915. Extensive improvements such as roller mills were installed and the mill for many years produced BEST Laura flour which was known across SA and in Broken Hill. To supplement revenue a chaff mill was also operated in conjunction the flourmill. The flourmill finally closed in the 1970s and much of it was destroyed in a 2015 arson attack. A butter factory also opened in Laura in 1891 and operated for some years as butter could by then be refrigerated and shipped to England but a lot of it was railed to the growing silver city of Broken Hill. The local area dairy cooperative was established in 1891 to ensure a reliable local milk supply for the factory. During the big droughts around 1900 milk production declined and the factory became a chaff factory. The old milk factory operated as a chaff mill until 1924. But milk processing in Laura did not cease entirely as in 1923 Laura became the home of Golden North. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business back from the large companies and they have since expanded production, including the famous Golden North honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006 and it is a major employer in the town. The old Laura Brewery operated from 1873 until it was purchased by the South Australian Brewing Company in 1893. They promptly closed it down in 1894 as they centralised all their operations in Adelaide by buying and closing country breweries. During World War Two Laura was declared one of four major flax growing areas and it had a flax mill. Ninety two farmers cultivated flax near Laura and almost two thousand acres were sown to flax during the period of the War time shortages. The flax was stored in the old Showgrounds stone Pavilion to the east of the town before it was milled. The flax mill closed in 1947 after opening in 1942. Like many agricultural towns Laura has several blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers such as Silby and Craig, Adamson Brothers and the foundry of Thomas Forsaith which later became Keipert foundry. Laura was also one of the few towns that had its own newspaper the Laura Standard. The Laura Standard was founded in 1888 and their building still remains named in the Main Street. C.J. Dennis had his first verses published in the newspaper in 1895. The Laura Standard was taken over by the Jamestown newspaper in 1942 and disappeared as an independent publication. It became part of the Northern Review newspaper. Add a description

QSA Item ID 1052768

View this and other original records at the Queensland State Archives:

Series ID 82

 

Coir ( /ˈkɔɪər/), or coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the husk of coconut and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes and mattresses. Coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut. Other uses of brown coir (made from ripe coconut) are in upholstery padding, sacking and horticulture. White coir, harvested from unripe coconuts, is used for making finer brushes, string, rope and fishing nets.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The English word "coir" comes from the Malayalam and Tamil word 'kayar' (കയർ in Malayalam and கயிறு in Tamil).

 

HISTORY

Ropes and cordage have been made from coconut fibre since ancient times. Indian navigators who sailed the seas to Malaya, Java, China, and the Gulf of Arabia centuries ago used coir for their ship ropes. Arab writers of the 11th century AD referred to the extensive use of coir for ship ropes and rigging.

 

A coir industry in the UK was recorded before the second half of the 19th century. During 1840, Captain Widely, in co-operation with Captain Logan and Mr. Thomas Treloar, founded the known carpet firms of Treloar and Sons in Ludgate Hill, England, for the manufacture of coir into various fabrics suitable for floor coverings.

 

STRUCTURE

Coir fibres are found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut. The individual fibre cells are narrow and hollow, with thick walls made of cellulose. They are pale when immature, but later become hardened and yellowed as a layer of lignin is deposited on their walls. Each cell is about 1 mm long and 10 to 20 µm (0.0004 to 0.0008 in) in diameter. Fibres are typically 10 to 30 centimetres long. The two varieties of coir are brown and white. Brown coir harvested from fully ripened coconuts is thick, strong and has high abrasion resistance. It is typically used in mats, brushes and sacking. Mature brown coir fibres contain more lignin and less cellulose than fibres such as flax and cotton, so are stronger but less flexible. White coir fibres harvested from coconuts before they are ripe are white or light brown in color and are smoother and finer, but also weaker. They are generally spun to make yarn used in mats or rope.

 

The coir fibre is relatively waterproof, and is one of the few natural fibres resistant to damage by saltwater. Fresh water is used to process brown coir, while seawater and fresh water are both used in the production of white coir. It must not be confused with coir pith, or formerly cocopeat, which is the powdery material resulting from the processing of the coir fibre. Coir fibre is locally named 'coprah' in some countries, adding to the confusion.

 

PROCESSING

Green coconuts, harvested after about six to 12 months on the palm, contain pliable white fibres. Brown fibre is obtained by harvesting fully mature coconuts when the nutritious layer surrounding the seed is ready to be processed into copra and desiccated coconut. The fibrous layer of the fruit is then separated from the hard shell (manually) by driving the fruit down onto a spike to split it (dehusking). A well-seasoned husker can manually separate 2,000 coconuts per day. Machines are now available which crush the whole fruit to give the loose fibres. These machines can process up to 2,000 coconuts per hour.

 

BEOWN FIBRE

The fibrous husks are soaked in pits or in nets in a slow-moving body of water to swell and soften the fibres. The long bristle fibres are separated from the shorter mattress fibres underneath the skin of the nut, a process known as wet-milling. The mattress fibres are sifted to remove dirt and other rubbish, dried in the sun and packed into bales. Some mattress fibre is allowed to retain more moisture so it retains its elasticity for twisted fibre production. The coir fibre is elastic enough to twist without breaking and it holds a curl as though permanently waved. Twisting is done by simply making a rope of the hank of fibre and twisting it using a machine or by hand. The longer bristle fibre is washed in clean water and then dried before being tied into bundles or hanks. It may then be cleaned and 'hackled' by steel combs to straighten the fibres and remove any shorter fibre pieces. Coir bristle fibre can also be bleached and dyed to obtain hanks of different colours.

 

WHITE FIBRE

The immature husks are suspended in a river or water-filled pit for up to ten months. During this time, micro-organisms break down the plant tissues surrounding the fibres to loosen them — a process known as retting. Segments of the husk are then beaten by hand to separate out the long fibres which are subsequently dried and cleaned. Cleaned fibre is ready for spinning into yarn using a simple one-handed system or a spinning wheel.

 

Researchers at CSIR's National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram have developed a biological process for the extraction of coir fibre from coconut husk without polluting the environment. The technology uses enzymes to separate the fibres by converting and solubilizing plant compounds to curb the pollution of waters caused by retting of husks.

 

BUFFERING

Because coir pith is high in sodium and potassium, it is treated before use as a growth medium for plants or fungi by soaking in a calcium buffering solution; most coir sold for growing purposes is said to be pre-treated. Once any remaining salts have been leached out of the coir pith, it and the cocochips become suitable substrates for cultivating fungi. Coir is naturally rich in potassium, which can lead to magnesium and calcium deficiencies in soilless horticultural media. Coir fiber is rarely used as a potting material, except for orchids, and does not need buffering, as it has a very low cation-exchange capacity (CEC) capacity, hence not retaining salts.

 

Coir does provide a suitable substrate for horticultural use as a soilless potting medium. The material's high lignin content is longer-lasting, holds more water, and does not shrink off the sides of the pot when dry allowing for easier rewetting. This light media has advantages and disadvantages that can be corrected with the addition of the proper amendment such as coarse sand for weight in interior plants like Draceana. Nutritive amendments should also be considered. Calcium and magnesium will be lacking in coir potting mixes, so a naturally good source of these nutrients is dolomitic lime which contains both. pH is of utmost importance as coir pith tends to have a high pH after some months of use, resulting in plant stunting and multiple deficiencies. Coir has as well the disavantage of being extremely sensitive to the Leucocoprinus greenhouse fungus. The addition of beneficial microbes to the coir media have been successful in tropical green house conditions and interior spaces as well. However, it is important to note that the microbes will engage in growth and reproduction under moist atmospheres producing fruiting bodies (mushrooms).

 

BRISTLE COIR

Bristle coir is the longest variety of coir fibre. It is manufactured from retted coconut husks through a process called defibring. The coir fibre thus extracted is then combed using steel combs to make the fibre clean and to remove short fibres. Bristle coir fibre is used as bristles in brushes for domestic and industrial applications.

 

USES

Cordage, packaging, bedding, flooring, and others

 

Red coir is used in floor mats and doormats, brushes, mattresses, floor tiles and sacking. A small amount is also made into twine. Pads of curled brown coir fibre, made by needle-felting (a machine technique that mats the fibres together), are shaped and cut to fill mattresses and for use in erosion control on river banks and hillsides. A major proportion of brown coir pads are sprayed with rubber latex which bonds the fibres together (rubberised coir) to be used as upholstery padding for the automobile industry in Europe. The material is also used for insulation and packaging.

 

The major use of white coir is in rope manufacture. Mats of woven coir fibre are made from the finer grades of bristle and white fibre using hand or mechanical looms. White coir also is used to make fishing nets due to its strong resistance to saltwater.

 

AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL USES

In agriculture and horticulture, coir is a substitute for sphagnum (peat moss) and peat because it is widely available and environmentally friendly. Many sources of coir however are heavily contaminated with pathogenic fungi, and the choice of the source is important. Coir is also useful to deter snails from delicate plantings, and as a growing medium in intensive glasshouse (greenhouse) horticulture.

 

Coconut coir from Mexico has been found to contain large numbers of colonies of the beneficial fungus Aspergillus terreus, which acts as a biological control against plant pathogenic fungi.

 

Coir is also used as a substrate to grow mushrooms. The coir is usually mixed with vermiculite and pasteurised with boiling water. After the coir/vermiculite mix has cooled to room temperature, it is placed in a larger container, usually a plastic box. Previously prepared spawn jars are then added, spawn is usually grown in jars using substrates such as rye grains or wild bird seed. This spawn is the mushrooms mycelium and will colonize the coir/vermiculite mix eventually fruiting mushrooms.

 

Coir is an allergen, as well as the latex and other materials used frequently in the treatment of coir.

 

Coir can be used as a terrarium substrate for reptiles or arachnids.

 

Coir fibre pith or coir dust can hold large quantities of water, just like a sponge. It is used as a replacement for traditional peat in soil mixtures, or, as a soil-less substrate for plant cultivation. It has been called "coco peat" because it is to fresh coco fibre somewhat like what peat is to peat moss, although it is not true peat.

 

Coir waste from coir fibre industries is washed, heat-treated, screened and graded before being processed into coco peat products of various granularity and denseness, which are then used for horticultural and agricultural applications and as industrial absorbent.

 

Usually shipped in the form of compressed bales, briquettes, slabs or discs, the end user usually expands and aerates the compressed coco peat by the addition of water. A single kilogramme of dry coco peat will expand to 15 litres of moist coco peat.

 

Coco peat is used as a soil conditioner. Due to low levels of nutrients in its composition, coco peat is usually not the sole component in the medium used to grow plants. When plants are grown exclusively in coco peat, it is important to add nutrients according to the specific plants' needs. Coco peat from Philippines, Sri Lanka and India contains several macro- and micro-plant nutrients, including substantial quantities of potassium. This extra potassium can interfere with magnesium availability. Adding extra magnesium through the addition of magnesium sulphates can correct this issue.

 

Some coco peat is not fully decomposed when it arrives and will use up available nitrogen as it does so (known as drawdown), competing with the plant if there is not enough. This is called nitrogen robbery; it can cause nitrogen deficiency in the plants. Poorly sourced coco fibre can have excess salts in it and needs washing (check electrical conductivity of run-off water, flush if high). It holds water well and holds around 1000 times more air than soil. Adding slow release fertilizers or organic fertilizers are highly advised when growing with coco fibre.

 

Common uses of coco fibre include:

 

As a substitute for peat, because it is free of bacteria and most fungal spores, and is sustainably produced without the environmental damage caused by peat mining.

Mixed with sand, compost and fertilizer to make good quality potting soil. Coco peat generally has an acidity in the range of pH - 5.5 to 6.5, which is slightly too acidic for some plants, but many popular plants can tolerate this pH range.

As substrate for growing mushrooms, which thrive on the cellulose. Coco peat has high cellulose and lignin content.

 

Coco fibre can be re-used up to three times with little loss of yield. Coco fibre from diseased plants should not be re-used.

Others

 

Being a good absorbent, dry coco peat can be used as an oil absorbent on slippery floors. Coco peat is also used as a bedding in animal farms and pet houses to absorb animal waste so the farm is kept clean and dry. Coco fibre is hydrophilic unlike sphagnum moss and can quickly reabsorb water even when completely dry. Coco peat is porous and cannot be overwatered easily.

 

BIOSECURITY RISKS

Coco fibre can harbour organisms that pose a threat to the biosecurity of countries into which it is imported. Coco peat has been imported into New Zealand since about 1989 with a marked increase since 2004. By 2009 a total of 25 new weed species have been found in imported coco peat. The regulations relating to importing coco peat into New Zealand have been amended to improve the biosecurity measures.

 

Trichoderma is a naturally occurring fungus in coco peat; it works in symbiosis with plant roots to protect them from pathogenic fungi such as pythium. It is not present in sterilised coco peat. Trichoderma is also destroyed by hydrogen peroxide.

 

MAJOT PRODUCERS

Total world coir fibre production is 250,000 tonnes (250,000 long tons; 280,000 short tons) This industry is particularly important in some areas of the developing world. India, mainly in Pollachi and the coastal region of Kerala State, produces 60% of the total world supply of white coir fibre. Sri Lanka produces 36% of the total brown fibre output. Over 50% of the coir fibre produced annually throughout the world is consumed in the countries of origin, mainly India. Together, India and Sri Lanka produce 90% of the coir produced every year. Sri Lanka remains the world's largest exporter of coir fibre and coir fibre based products.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Around 30% of Kirby & West's fleet is diesel powered for the longer or rural deliveries. These replace the ageing LDV Sherpa vehicles.

 

Excerpt from here: colingriffiths.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/milk-churns-kirby-a...

 

Kirby and West's brightly painted electric milk floats are still a familiar sight around Leicester. The sound of a solid tyred float, with it's battery fuelled motor whining it's way up the street first thing in the morning is still a regular sound. Times have changed though, most folk buy their milk from the local mini-mart in plastic bottles and compared to yesterday, the milk float only stops at a small number of houses along the street; it's easier to pay the cashier in a shop using a debit card, than it is to await the milkman's Saturday morning knock on the front door and to have cash at the ready for weekly payments.

 

Kirby and West have been in business since 1861 and soon after developing into profitable dairy. In 1956, 17,000 gallons of milk were being processed daily. As late as 1980, new facilities capable of washing 24,000 bottles an hour being commissioned. In 2007 however, milk processing, bottling and carton filling was deemed unprofitable. Today the company still continues to supply dairy products and other goods to local communities and businesses.

 

One can imagine the daily hustle and bustle of the dairy business of yesteryear. Local farmers would milk the cows during the early hours and leave full churns on raised platforms outside their farms. The pickup lorry would arrive, load the churns and take them to the local rural railway station where they would be put in a steam hauled train enroute for Leicester. Pint sized bottles, after making their way around the dairy's washing plant, would be filled with cold pasteurised and sterilised milk, sealed with a top, deposited into crates and loaded onto the battery trucks. With a rattle and a chatter of bouncing bottles, the floats would make their way through the streets of the city and a milkman would chink the bottles as he brought them up the drive to place them on the doorstep. We remember the bottle tops pecked by the birds that loved to get the cream, or the cold mornings when the milk froze and pushed a tower of white ice out through the neck of the bottle. Yet for all this romantic thought, and despite feeling that it would be somewhat sad if the milk floats disappeared, we still prefer to make our dairy purchases elsewhere.

 

www.kirbyandwest.co.uk/

Yankalilla.

The Bungala River valley was one of the first areas of South Australia surveyed by Surveyor General Colonel William Light after the area immediately surrounding the city of Adelaide. In fact on 18 May 1838, just over a year after the sale of Adelaide town lots, Light declared that 150,000 acres of land was ready for settlement, or almost so. They were: 69,000 acres around Adelaide; 27,000 acres at Rapid Bay; 5,400 acres at Yankalilla;

20,000 acres on Kangaroo Island; and 28,000 acres in the Onkaparinga Valley. The actual surveying of Yankalilla must have occurred a bit later around 1840 as settlement of Yankalilla did not being until 1842 with the arrival of Henry Kemmis, Septimane Herbert and George Worthington who all took up land and built houses. The farmers planted wheat and barley in the land they had cleared and by 1844 there were over 50 acres in wheat and several acres in potatoes. All three families built properties on the northern side of Bungala Creek. Worthington built near what was to become the Anglican Church and Kemmis built Manna Farm near the junction of the road to Victor Harbor and Hebert’s Bungala House became the first house south of Willunga.

 

The establishment of local government occurred in 1854 with the first council meeting taking place in the Normanville Hotel. The council chambers were soon erected in Yankalilla. By the late 1860s Yankalilla and Normanville had three flourmills, five stores, two breweries, four blacksmiths, three hotels and five churches! The breweries had to be local in those days as beer did not keep and could not be easily transported. It was the work of Louis Pasteur that led to beer being pasteurised. Once this happened the small town breweries all closed and beer production was centralised in Adelaide. In the early years of the 1850s and 1860s Yankalilla was one of the biggest and most important towns in the state apart from the mining centres of Kapunda, Burra, Kadina and Moonta.

 

Historically Yankalilla has several worthy buildings. One is the old school house at 48 Main Street which was built by the government in 1859. Several people operated this as a private school. The most famous of these was Sister Mary McKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph in 1867 who operated this as their first country school outside of Adelaide. It was conducted for 40 Catholic children. The first is the former Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1879. (There was an early Bible Christian Methodist Church in Yankalilla too erected in 1856 but it was demolished decades ago). The other significant building is Christ Church Anglican Church which was opened by Bishop Short in 1857. In recent years it has become the shrine of “Our Lady of Yankalilla” based on markings on the wall which resemble the Virgin Mary cradling a crucified Christ. The local rector reported the “image” in 1994 and it has been a shrine for pilgrims since 1996. The nearby Anglican cemetery has graves dating from 1854.

 

In 1897, industrial heir Walter E. H. Massey, president of the Massey-Harris company, purchased a hobby farm producing dairy, egg, poultry and trout.

 

In 1900, the farm became the home of the City Dairy Company, which produced the first pasteurised milk in Canada. At the time, typhoid and tuberculosis were raging through the city. Although vaccines for both of these now exist, pasteurised milk played an important role in the early fight to control these diseases.

 

A contemporary study blamed approximately 400 child deaths a year on milk laced with tuberculosis baccilli, dirt and other contaminants. Massey's goal was to give consumers a choice, and to provide "Milk Good Enough for Babies".

 

The City Dairy eventually centralised production on Spadina Crescent, between Russell and Bancroft avenues, where this image was taken. At the time, this was the most technically advanced milk production facility in North America.

 

The City Dairy eventually became the Borden Company.

 

Creator: Secord, E.S

Date: 1920 circa

Identifier: X 65-31

Format: Picture

Rights: Public domain

Courtesy: Toronto Public Library Digital Archive

More information: (view details and larger image)

You can order order a print or high-resolution copy.

 

2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of legendary beer writer Michael Jackson (1942-2007), aka the Beer Hunter. In honor, CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) has reprinted an article that it first published in 1980 in its house organ, "What's Brewing."

 

There are over 5,000 breweries operating in the United States today. In 1980, there were only a handful of microbreweries (what we now call ‘craft’ breweries) in businee. And there were no ‘craft’ IPAs. There was, however, at least one American IPA.

 

"Oh, my darling Ballantine ..." was one of the first articles that Mr. Jackson would write for CAMRA. It told the story of Ballantine IPA, a relic of American pre-‘craft’ mainstream brewing. The article reads now with some dated references, but the history is there and the observations trenchant. Jackson finished it with a sly bit of social commentary.

 

*******************

▶ "Much as gentlepersons opt for blondes, so British beer drinkers prefer bitter. That much is axiomatic, but exactly how bitter is another question.

 

The brewmaster himself, through he may be too matter-of-fact to use such epithets, is seeking a distinctive palate, a subtlety, a balance, rather than a malty sweetness or a hoppy, bitter dryness.

 

So, is his product as malty as Hartley’s of Ulverston, the sweater kind of bitter, or as hoppy and dry as Young’s ordinary, Shipstone’s or Courage Directors’? Such are the comparisons open to the man on Clapham omnibus, or indeed in the public bar and the CAMRA tie.

 

Brewers, on the other hand, have over the years come to agree on a more scientific way in which bitterness might be measured and expressed. The system is based upon an optical measurement of density of hop acids and resins extracted from the finished beer.

 

Although this system is less than definitive in the way in which it accounts for the bittering features inherent in malts and yeasts, it provides an interesting rule of thumb, or of palate.

 

In many parts of the world, the typical beer is a lager with an original gravity of, say, 1046, attenuated to an alcohol content of 4.75 by volume, expressing its hoppiness probably around the middle of the scale ranging from 14 to 27 units of bitterness. I mention original gravity because, the higher it is, the more malty sweetness the brewer has to balance with hoppy dryness.

 

An English ordinary bitter, which actually has a lower original gravity (say 1036, attenuated to 3.6 per cent) might have somewhere between 20 and 35 units of bitterness, and may well aspire to the higher end of the scale. A special bitter is even more likely to be in the mid thirties, and the classic IPA, our cherished White Shield (1052 and a good 5.0 per cent) manifests its exuberantly hoppy liveliness at 40 units of bitterness.

 

These musings on bitterness are motivated by my recent tasting of another IPA, and a very famous one, through not to British drinkers. This particular example was one of those classic brews that survive in unlikely places because they have somehow managed to catch history in a rare benevolent mood.

 

It was right at the peak period of India Pale Ale trade, in 1830, that a Scottish brewer named Peter Ballantine emigrated from Ayr to the United States, and shortly afterwards went into business.

 

Since the question might occur to drinkers with Catholic tastes, I might say that this Ballantine does not seem to be related to the distinguished whisky-distillers of the same name, although their firm was established round about the same time.

 

The wonderfully distinctive India Pale Ale produced by Peter Ballantine has proven to be a remarkably hardy brew in more senses than one. With its Scottish parentage and its Anglo-Indian heritage, the beer survived the post-Prohibition takeover of the firm by a German family, and retained even until the early 1960s a formidable 60 units of bitterness.

 

In order to achieve this, the brewery used hop oils produced on the premises by its own method of steam-distillation similar to that which I have seen employed to make grappa brandy. Whole hops were used, both during the brew and afterwards. The beer was dry-hopped, and aged for a year in wooden tanks.

 

Ballantine also produced a beer called Burton, which was essentially the same brew aged for up to ten years in tanks which were gradually tapped and replenished rather like sherry solera.

 

I was greatly honoured recently to be served a 30-year-old Burton by a friend. It had the characteristics of an extra-ordinarily dry barley wine, pale in colour and faintly cloudy, with a most powerful mouth and a mighty hop bitterness. The floweriness and bouquet of the hop were still evident.

 

Although Burton is, sadly, no longer made, there is happier news of IPA.

 

There were grave fears for the beer when Ballantine brewery in Newark, across the river from New York City, was closed after a takeover by the Falstaff group.

 

This concern was not eased when, soon afterwards, Falstaff itself was taken over, by a businessman who owned General Brewing, best known as producers of supermarket brands.

 

This did not seem to augur well for Ballantine’s IPA, and for that reason I dared give it only a whispered mention in my World Guide to Beer. However things turned out better than might have been expected, and I was recently delighted to find this outstanding American ale in rude health, after making a pilgrimage at the suggestion of What’s Brewing reader Bill Byrnes.

 

I hope that, in the matter of great ale, East Coast honour has thus been quite properly satisfied.

 

Like a half-forgotten celebrity, thought by some admirers to have retired and by others to be dead, Ballantine’s IPA has been living in quiet obscurity. Its new home, some miles to the north, is still within easy reach of its small but dedicated band of followers from the New York area. Ballantine’s now resides in a Falstaff-owned brewery in Rhode Island. The brewery, named after a local Narragansett tribe of Indians, was built in 1890, and also produces a porter and a lager.

 

Happily, it still has wooden fermenters and holding tanks, both used for the IPA, through the brewmaster contrarily questions their value. Her is one of the substantial school who argue that wood’s disadvantages, notably in harbouring hostile micro-organisms, outweigh the benefits of ‘house character’ which they may or may not confer. I disagree, and will pursue this topic in a future article.

 

Hop oils are no longer used, but bittering is still a matter of some care. The hops used are a careful mixture of Brewer’ Gold and American Yakima, and the end result is a very respectable 45 units of bitterness.

 

Ballantine IPA has a very high original gravity at 1078, through history is vague as to the densities of the original India Pale Ales of the 1820s and the 1830s. Apparently they varied from 1044 to 1070.

 

This American example is fermented for a couple of weeks, which is a long time, then dry-hopped and held in wood for five months to gain bitterness. It is not, however, primed and is held at a temperature which prevents any further fermentation. Its final alcohol content is 7.5 per cent.

 

It is marketed only in the bottle and is pasteurised, but with such care that the palate remains astonishingly fresh – British bottlers please copy.

 

With its thick, rocky head, delightfully hoppy nose, powerful and lasting bitterness, extremely firm full body, superb balance and soft natural carbonation, Ballantine’s IPA is unique in its fidelity to the East Coast tradition of Colonial ales.

 

It has for years been poised on the brink of disappearance, but the brewery have no decided to make it more widely available, and to put some promotional effort behind it.

 

Since they say there is no prospect of the brew being kept alive as a prestige “loss leader”, the worry must be that this sales drive constitutes one last attempt to achieve success with an eccentric product.

 

The hope must be that having hung on for so long, IPA is not finally killed by the brewery’s suddenly greater expectations of it.

 

Behind an inappropriately gimcrack label, it is quite legitimately, being priced and presented in competition with imported beers. It’s success may now depend upon the ability of an unschooled consumer to recognise that this local product deserved little honour in its own country, and that it is more than a match for the average import.

 

Ironically, one such interloper is a new product from Greenall Whitley, a Cheshire Pub” beer which is being test-marketed with some success in Ballantine’s own backyard.

 

I should finally, make it clear that Ballantine does, in fact, produce three genuinely top-fermented ales, all dry-hopped, though the other two are not at all English in style. One is a new product, a premium ale named Brewer’s Gold after the species of hop with whose aroma and palate it is notably imbued.

 

This smooth, full-bodied golden-coloured ale has an original gravity of 1070, 7.0 per cent alcohol by volume, and 30-34 units of bitterness. It is intended to compete on the campus circuit with fashionable North American ales like Genesee and Molson.

 

Then there is the house “ordinary,” known simply as Ballantine Ale, and labelled with a Triple X symbol.

 

This, too, is golden in colour, and has a pronounced aroma, and palate of Brewers’ Gold hops. But it is far less memorable than its bigger brothers, though it packs an original gravity of 1053, 5.6 per cent alcohol by volume, and 22-24 units of bitterness.

 

It does well in the decaying urban areas near the old Newark brewery, through any beer which has above average strength without a premium price is popular in ghetto neighbourhoods.

 

There, too, you can find units of bitterness."

 

****************

▶ In 2014, Pabst Brewing Company made an attempt at a quasi-resurrection of Ballantine IPA. Geeks at RateBeer and BeerAdvocate, tasting it without historical context, were, generally, not kind. I, unfortunately, never did find it on shelf or tap.

 

▶There is evidence that the yeast which Sierra Nevada Brewing first employed for its iconic Pale Ale in 1979 (and still does) was, in fact, Ballantine’s house ale strain, which would make the latter the fungal grandparent to much of early (and a lot of current) ‘craft’ brewing.

 

▶ CAMRA promises reprints of more Jackson articles throughout the year.

 

***************

▶ Image uploaded by Yours For Good Fermentables.com.

— Follow on web: YoursForGoodFermentables.com.

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Muriel Clark - Photographer

283 Hilltown

 

J L Wallace - Funeral Director

285 Hilltown

 

Dundee Pasteurised Milk Company Ltd ( D P M Co. Ltd)

289 Hilltown

 

Date: c.1965

 

Ref: BW154-16

Laura.

The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the school opening in 1873, the Wesleyan Church in 1873 and the brewery in 1876. A butter factory opened in 1898. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now a museum), the old post office and police station and the school. The town’s claim to fame is that the poet C.J Dennis was born in Laura in 1876 but he lived in many SA towns before he left for Victoria. The old brewery was sited on the banks of the Rocky River as a reliable water supply was necessary for successful breweries. It was built with its high tower in 1873 and finally closed for business in 1894 just as the development of pasteurisation of beer was closing country breweries and centralising all beer production in Adelaide. Not far away in the hills of the Southern Flinders Ranges is Beetaloo Reservoir which was constructed between 1888 and 1890 to provide fresh water for the copper triangle towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo. The reservoir was been increased in capacity in 1927 and again in 1979. The town also had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built. The mill machinery was manufactured in the foundries at Gawler and operated into the 1930s with the addition of chaff mills and finally closed in the 1970s. Best Laura Flour was a brand well known in SA and in Broken Hill. During World War Two Laura had a flax mill to produce canvas. Crops of flax were grown from Wirrabara to Laura. It closed in 1947. As early as 1891 Laura had a dairy factory to process milk and make butter, some of which was railed to Broken Hill.

 

Laura has been home to Golden North ice cream since 1923. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business, and they have since expanded production, including the famous honey ice cream. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006.

 

Just part of Kirby and West's fleet. Around 30% of the fleet is diesel powered for the longer or rural deliveries. These replace the ageing LDV Sherpa vehicles.

 

Excerpt from here: colingriffiths.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/milk-churns-kirby-a...

 

Kirby and West's brightly painted electric milk floats are still a familiar sight around Leicester. The sound of a solid tyred float, with it's battery fuelled motor whining it's way up the street first thing in the morning is still a regular sound. Times have changed though, most folk buy their milk from the local mini-mart in plastic bottles and compared to yesterday, the milk float only stops at a small number of houses along the street; it's easier to pay the cashier in a shop using a debit card, than it is to await the milkman's Saturday morning knock on the front door and to have cash at the ready for weekly payments.

 

Kirby and West have been in business since 1861 and soon after developing into profitable dairy. In 1956, 17,000 gallons of milk were being processed daily. As late as 1980, new facilities capable of washing 24,000 bottles an hour being commissioned. In 2007 however, milk processing, bottling and carton filling was deemed unprofitable. Today the company still continues to supply dairy products and other goods to local communities and businesses.

 

One can imagine the daily hustle and bustle of the dairy business of yesteryear. Local farmers would milk the cows during the early hours and leave full churns on raised platforms outside their farms. The pickup lorry would arrive, load the churns and take them to the local rural railway station where they would be put in a steam hauled train enroute for Leicester. Pint sized bottles, after making their way around the dairy's washing plant, would be filled with cold pasteurised and sterilised milk, sealed with a top, deposited into crates and loaded onto the battery trucks. With a rattle and a chatter of bouncing bottles, the floats would make their way through the streets of the city and a milkman would chink the bottles as he brought them up the drive to place them on the doorstep. We remember the bottle tops pecked by the birds that loved to get the cream, or the cold mornings when the milk froze and pushed a tower of white ice out through the neck of the bottle. Yet for all this romantic thought, and despite feeling that it would be somewhat sad if the milk floats disappeared, we still prefer to make our dairy purchases elsewhere.

 

www.kirbyandwest.co.uk/

You can tell a lot about a person by the manner in which they dress their scone.

 

A Devonian is supposed to place the clotted cream against the scone; the jam on top. For the Cornish the dressing stratigraphy is overturned. Some reason that the jam goes on top to prevent smearing the cream embarrasingly on one's face. This unreasoning supposition implies that to smear one's face with jam is acceptable. I say open your mouth wider or be less extravagant with your jam and cream.

 

I was subjected to possibly the worst cream tea offence at what should have been a proper Afternoon Tea in a posh establishment at Tavistock, on the border of these counties. The cream, not proper clotted cream like my mother made using the milk of Molly the cow, was horrid frozen and thawed supermarket rubbish still in the nasty plastic cup in which it was bought. At least here in Port Isaac they have the decency and inclination to respect tradition and their guests. In Tavistock I was clearly a customer; a commodity.

 

These are my scones. Can you tell my West Country heritage from this snapshot? I'll tell you more. If that jam is commercial grade — soft and gooey — it really must go on top. It is simply impossible to spread proper clotted cream on such pap. Jam as I know it — a means to conserve fruit for when there is none — is firm, its pectin relished, it's moisture reduced so that it will set and keep unmolested by fermentation or mould; without pasteurisation and vacuum sealing. This is jam on which clotted cream can be spread.

 

Perhaps, I wonder, you can tell as much about the jam maker and the practical nature of the Devonian and the Cornish as you can about the spreader? My inclination is that there is something in that notion.

For the 'Circles' weekly theme in the 365 2013 Edition group.

 

An ice-cream maker arrived unexpectedly at our door last week, so I have been busily experimenting in order to get my first ice-cream actually frozen and tasty. Here it is, and let me say I think it did taste as good as it looks, if a little on the rich side.

 

Here's the recipe that I made up on the fly:

 

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup Sweet Simplicity (erythritol/fructose sugar subtitute)

1 carton Eggbeaters (pasteurised, equiv. 4 eggs)

1/2 cup white chocolate morsels

1 tbsp vanilla extract

 

Melted the chocolate over hot water. Heated cream/milk mixture to near boil, then combined it with beaten eggs/sugar mixture, melted chocolate and vanilla and simmered 5 minutes. Chilled approx 1 hour on ice, then added to ice-cream maker.

As expected the bus turned up on time. Skylink has a very good reliability rate in my book.

 

I've boarded, stowed by suitcase in the large rack at the front and taken a seat.

 

At the first traffic lights we pull aside a Kirby and West milk delivery truck - it is 5:11am.

 

Around 30% of the fleet is diesel powered for the longer or rural deliveries. These replace the ageing LDV Sherpa vehicles.

 

Excerpt from here: colingriffiths.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/milk-churns-kirby-a...

 

Kirby and West's brightly painted electric milk floats are still a familiar sight around Leicester. The sound of a solid tyred float, with it's battery fuelled motor whining it's way up the street first thing in the morning is still a regular sound. Times have changed though, most folk buy their milk from the local mini-mart in plastic bottles and compared to yesterday, the milk float only stops at a small number of houses along the street; it's easier to pay the cashier in a shop using a debit card, than it is to await the milkman's Saturday morning knock on the front door and to have cash at the ready for weekly payments.

 

Kirby and West have been in business since 1861 and soon after developing into profitable dairy. In 1956, 17,000 gallons of milk were being processed daily. As late as 1980, new facilities capable of washing 24,000 bottles an hour being commissioned. In 2007 however, milk processing, bottling and carton filling was deemed unprofitable. Today the company still continues to supply dairy products and other goods to local communities and businesses.

 

One can imagine the daily hustle and bustle of the dairy business of yesteryear. Local farmers would milk the cows during the early hours and leave full churns on raised platforms outside their farms. The pickup lorry would arrive, load the churns and take them to the local rural railway station where they would be put in a steam hauled train enroute for Leicester. Pint sized bottles, after making their way around the dairy's washing plant, would be filled with cold pasteurised and sterilised milk, sealed with a top, deposited into crates and loaded onto the battery trucks. With a rattle and a chatter of bouncing bottles, the floats would make their way through the streets of the city and a milkman would chink the bottles as he brought them up the drive to place them on the doorstep. We remember the bottle tops pecked by the birds that loved to get the cream, or the cold mornings when the milk froze and pushed a tower of white ice out through the neck of the bottle. Yet for all this romantic thought, and despite feeling that it would be somewhat sad if the milk floats disappeared, we still prefer to make our dairy purchases elsewhere.

 

www.kirbyandwest.co.uk/

"So give me coffee and TV

Peacefully

I've seen so much, I'm going blind

And I'm brain-dead virtually.

Sociability

is hard enough for me

take me away from this big bad world

and agree to marry me

so we can start over again!"

 

Coffee & Tv - Blur

 

Sono passati tanti anni ma rimane ancora uno dei migliori video musicali che abbia mai visto!

 

Many years have passed but this music video remains one of the greatest i've ever seen!

 

William Johnston migrated from Glasgow to SA in 1839 with his wife and seven children. In 1840 he obtained some land which he called Oakbank. He had worked as a distiller in Scotland and soon began brewing beer for the local market as well as farming. By 1844 he had sown 50 acres in wheat, 12 acres in barley and four acres in potatoes. His sons James( 1818-1891) and Andrew ( 1827-1886) became pioneering Scots of the district. With their father William they started a brewery in 1843 as there was a good local supply of water- the Onkaparinga River. Father William died in 1853 and the two brothers took over the brewery. They manufactured cordials and aerated waters as well as beer and they later joined the Lion Brewery in Adelaide and they founded another brewery of their own in Broken Hill. The brothers owned around 2,500 acres in the district and in 1860 they subdivided some of their land to form almost a company town which they named Oakbank after a factory in their hometown of Glasgow. They bought up many of the town blocks and provided some housing for their workers. Earlier in 1850 they had done likewise with the foundation of Woodside which they named after a village they knew in Scotland near Dundee. But Oakbank was their hometown with their own mansions. Oakbank House (James Johnston) is near the racecourse and near the brewery. It was built around 1865 as a grand two-storey house with wrought iron balconies and lace work, blue stone, bay window and all in the Italianate style. The fine proportions of the house were set off with a long driveway lined with gum trees. The lace wrought iron work was imported from a Glasgow foundry! The Johnstons were not short of money by this time! Brewing was a profitable industry. The original house that Andrew built was further away from the Onkaparinga River in Pike Street called Dalintober, built around 1855. Unfortunately there is not much visible of this grand house from the street. Both James and Andrew worshipped at the Church of Scotland, Presbyterian, at nearby Inverbrackie where they were later buried.

 

The Oakbank brewery reached its peak in the 1890s for beer production before the pasteurisation of beer became common and most country breweries closed as production was concentrated in Adelaide. Their hops came from Lobethal, Woodside and Tasmania for their beer. They employed around 20 men and had horses carting brewed beer to Strathalbyn, Hahndorf, Mt Barker, Nairne etc. They supplied the annual race meeting at Oakbank as the racing club had been formed in 1874 on part of Andrew Johnston’s land. Andrew was a founding member of the Oakbank Racing Club. Once Andrew died in 1886 and brother James in 1891 the next generation of sons expanded the Johnston Brewery company. They formed a family company in 1901 and expanded the number of Johnston owned hotels from Woodside (1850) to over 20 hotels. They stopped producing beer in 1914 but their factory still produces aerated waters (soft drinks). The Johnston family company still owns 19 SA hotels from Milang to Mt Pleasant, Callington, Mannum and more. Since 2002 they have started producing their own wine. They are thought to be the longest surviving SA family company. There was a rival brewer in Oakbank from 1885 when Henry Pike, an Englishman, established a second brewery in town. He too purchased a chain of hotels before ceasing to produce beer from 1938 when the Pike brewery too concentrated on cordials and aerated drinks. The Pikes factory finally closed in 1973. The Johnstons were great local benefactors donating land for the RSL in Woodside, the oval at Stirling next to the hotel that they then owned, and the institute land at Littlehampton etc.

 

There are few public buildings in Oakbank but the Primitive Methodists did erect a church in the town in 1863. They built a second church next to the original one in 1887. It is now a private residence. When the branch railway line from Balhannah to Mt Pleasant was put through in 1919 it passed close by this Methodist church. The train line was especially used to transport thousands of racer goers to the Easter Racing Carnival at Oakbank each year.

 

QSA Item ID 1052768

View this and other original records at the Queensland State Archives:

Series ID 82

 

Hastings Milk Treatment Station float.

 

15 September 1956. From a Kodachrome slide. Photographer unknown.

The Queenslander

11 February 1899

 

THE LOWOOD CREAMERY COMPANY

 

The march of Industrial progress through out the city of Brisbane is now becoming more clearly defined. Scarcely a month goes by without some new building springing, as it were, into notice to proclaim the industrial and manufacturing advancement that is now being made. No better instance of this can perhaps be given than that of the Lowood Creamery Company, who have erected capacious premises In Adelalde-street In connection with the large dairying operations which they have for some years successfully carried on. The building is a two-storied one, constructed of brick, with cemented exterior, showing a frontage of 33ft. to Adelaide-street, with a depth of 148 ft., and erected at a cost of £2600. It was specially designed by Messrs. Stanley and Son, architects, to meet the requirements of the company. The machinery, refrigerating and pasteurising plant, and butter making appliances are claimed to be the most complete of their kind in the Australian colonies. They cost close upon £3000, which, with the buildings, represents the expenditure of the company to be about £6000.

 

The machinery and mechanical apparatus are up to date. The steam power is supplied by a 30 horse-power multitubular boiler made by Messrs. Smith, Faulkner, and Co. This drives a compound Llnde refrigerating plant, with a capacity of 14 tons per day. It is not here necessary, however, to recapitulate the various details of machinery, associated with the Llnde plant, suffice to say that it works admirably, and was procured through the agency of Messrs. Wildrldge and Sinclair, the well-known firm of civil engineers. A 10 horse-power vertical dairy engine is also in use. These two important factors comprise the mechanical basis of the Lowood creamery works. The milk supply is, of course, the main element in the company's business. This is drawn from every part of West Moreton, scarcely, a dairying district In that wide area being unrepresented. But, independent of the milk and cream forwarded from sixty-flve suppliers direct to the company's factory in Brisbane, they have twenty six creameries under their own control.

 

The milk is supplied direct from the Adelaide-street depot to the City and Suburban Ice Distributing Company, and large quantities of cream are delivered through the same source, the latter article being much in demand.

 

Queensland State Archives Image ID 2370

Just part of Kirby and West's extensive electric powered milk float fleet. Note the recharge power cables from the overhead electrical trunking. Around 30% of the fleet is diesel powered for the longer or rural deliveries.

 

Excerpt from here: colingriffiths.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/milk-churns-kirby-a...

 

Kirby and West's brightly painted electric milk floats are still a familiar sight around Leicester. The sound of a solid tyred float, with it's battery fuelled motor whining it's way up the street first thing in the morning is still a regular sound. Times have changed though, most folk buy their milk from the local mini-mart in plastic bottles and compared to yesterday, the milk float only stops at a small number of houses along the street; it's easier to pay the cashier in a shop using a debit card, than it is to await the milkman's Saturday morning knock on the front door and to have cash at the ready for weekly payments.

 

Kirby and West have been in business since 1861 and soon after developing into profitable dairy. In 1956, 17,000 gallons of milk were being processed daily. As late as 1980, new facilities capable of washing 24,000 bottles an hour being commissioned. In 2007 however, milk processing, bottling and carton filling was deemed unprofitable. Today the company still continues to supply dairy products and other goods to local communities and businesses.

 

One can imagine the daily hustle and bustle of the dairy business of yesteryear. Local farmers would milk the cows during the early hours and leave full churns on raised platforms outside their farms. The pickup lorry would arrive, load the churns and take them to the local rural railway station where they would be put in a steam hauled train enroute for Leicester. Pint sized bottles, after making their way around the dairy's washing plant, would be filled with cold pasteurised and sterilised milk, sealed with a top, deposited into crates and loaded onto the battery trucks. With a rattle and a chatter of bouncing bottles, the floats would make their way through the streets of the city and a milkman would chink the bottles as he brought them up the drive to place them on the doorstep. We remember the bottle tops pecked by the birds that loved to get the cream, or the cold mornings when the milk froze and pushed a tower of white ice out through the neck of the bottle. Yet for all this romantic thought, and despite feeling that it would be somewhat sad if the milk floats disappeared, we still prefer to make our dairy purchases elsewhere.

 

www.kirbyandwest.co.uk/

Laura. Like Gladstone this town has around 600 people. The first town lots were offered for sale in 1872 with the school opening in 1873, the Wesleyan Church in 1873 and the brewery in 1876. A butter factory opened in 1898. A local land owner Mr H Walter had a private town named North Laura gazetted but it was soon amalgamated back into the government town of Laura. Some of the finest buildings in the town are the Old Court House (now a museum), the old post office and police station and the school. The town’s claim to fame is that the poet C.J Dennis was born in Laura in 1876 but he lived in many SA towns before he left for Victoria. The old brewery was sited on the banks of the Rocky River as a reliable water supply was necessary for successful breweries. Not far away in the hills of the Southern Flinders Ranges is Beetaloo Reservoir which was constructed between 1888 and 1890 to provide fresh water for the copper triangle towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo. The reservoir has been increased in capacity in 1927 and again in 1979. The town also had an important flour mill from 1874 which burnt down in 1878 and then was re-built. The mill machinery was manufactured in the foundries at Gawler and operated into the 1930s. During World War Two Laura had a flax mill to produce canvas. Crops of flax were grown from Wirrabara to Laura. It closed in 1947. As early as 1891 Laura had a dairy factory to process milk and make butter, some of which was railed to Broken Hill.

 

Laura has been home to Golden North ice cream since 1923. In that year the Laura Ice Company was formed, primarily to supply the local and the Broken Hill trade and the regional city of Port Pirie with ice, milk and ice cream. From 1938 milk was pasteurised at the factory. The brand name Golden North was adopted in 1948. In 1961 the head office was moved from Laura to Clare and the company was taken over by Farmers Union in 1972 which was in turn taken over by National Foods in 1991. Then in 2001 a group of local investors bought the business, and they have since expanded production, including the famous honey ice cream. You can buy Golden North ice cream from the shops in the main street. The company was awarded a state heritage icon award in 2006.

 

Yankalilla.

The Bungala River valley was one of the first areas of South Australia surveyed by Surveyor General Colonel William Light after the area immediately surrounding the city of Adelaide. In fact on 18 May 1838, just over a year after the sale of Adelaide town lots, Light declared that 150,000 acres of land was ready for settlement, or almost so. They were: 69,000 acres around Adelaide; 27,000 acres at Rapid Bay; 5,400 acres at Yankalilla;

20,000 acres on Kangaroo Island; and 28,000 acres in the Onkaparinga Valley. The actual surveying of Yankalilla must have occurred a bit later around 1840 as settlement of Yankalilla did not being until 1842 with the arrival of Henry Kemmis, Septimane Herbert and George Worthington who all took up land and built houses. The farmers planted wheat and barley in the land they had cleared and by 1844 there were over 50 acres in wheat and several acres in potatoes. All three families built properties on the northern side of Bungala Creek. Worthington built near what was to become the Anglican Church and Kemmis built Manna Farm near the junction of the road to Victor Harbor and Hebert’s Bungala House became the first house south of Willunga.

 

The establishment of local government occurred in 1854 with the first council meeting taking place in the Normanville Hotel. The council chambers were soon erected in Yankalilla. By the late 1860s Yankalilla and Normanville had three flourmills, five stores, two breweries, four blacksmiths, three hotels and five churches! The breweries had to be local in those days as beer did not keep and could not be easily transported. It was the work of Louis Pasteur that led to beer being pasteurised. Once this happened the small town breweries all closed and beer production was centralised in Adelaide. In the early years of the 1850s and 1860s Yankalilla was one of the biggest and most important towns in the state apart from the mining centres of Kapunda, Burra, Kadina and Moonta.

 

Historically Yankalilla has several worthy buildings. One is the old school house at 48 Main Street which was built by the government in 1859. Several people operated this as a private school. The most famous of these was Sister Mary McKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph in 1867 who operated this as their first country school outside of Adelaide. It was conducted for 40 Catholic children. The first is the former Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1879. (There was an early Bible Christian Methodist Church in Yankalilla too erected in 1856 but it was demolished decades ago). The other significant building is Christ Church Anglican Church which was opened by Bishop Short in 1857. In recent years it has become the shrine of “Our Lady of Yankalilla” based on markings on the wall which resemble the Virgin Mary cradling a crucified Christ. The local rector reported the “image” in 1994 and it has been a shrine for pilgrims since 1996. The nearby Anglican cemetery has graves dating from 1854.