Time Travellers in Essendon, Flemington and the Keilor Plains

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Related articles

Gatekeepers at the Park Street Crossing  by Marilyn Kenny

Park Street, Moonee Ponds Gatekeeper's Cottage  by Rod Berry

Park Street Level Crossing by Marilyn Kenny

 

The Gatekeepers at the Park Street Railway Crossing

 

Railways and Gardens

 

by Marilyn Kenny

 

In cultivating his patch Patrick O'Brien was not alone, though his enthusiasm and devotion may have been exceptional. For many years before and after the O’Briens’ time the Victorian Railways actively promoted the cultivation of various types of gardens around its built assets. This served two purposes. Gardening was promoted as healthy and refreshing and lifted the man to higher and nobler planes. The charms of a garden fostered wholesome thinking and removed one from the gross aspects of life. The worker who was a gardener became a better family man, citizen and railway man-so said the Commissioners to their railway family.

 

Encouraging staff to garden was also a way beautifying State owned property, nurturing pride in the invested resources. The railway station and Departmental residences were key local community assets and encouraging staff to hoe their plots enhanced the Railway’s standing. Established gardens reduced sun damage and glare around stations and provided shade and windbreaks  for animals and passengers.  It was humanizing, enhancing what could be a grim industrial setting.  The plantings also had practical application, stabilizing embankments and reducing erosion and dust. Gardening also kept railway employees positively occupied in what often could be remote or hardship locations.

 

Railway Nurseries

Rear Them Tough

 

 

 

A nurseryman at work at Flemington Bridge. VR Newsletter March 1949.

 

The campaign to beautify Victorian railway stations can be traced back to 1893 when station masters received an instructional memo encouraging beautification of the stations and surrounds. The Railways requested hundreds of ornamental trees from the Macedon State Nursery, Burnley Horticultural Gardens and Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens.  However foresters and locomotive drivers alike criticized some planting. George Perrin, Victoria’s Conservator of Forests, wrote in 1894 that I have in many places noticed a disposition to place trees where they may become dangerous to traffic or an encumbrance to the lines, whilst some of the trees have been planted without any regard to their future size and height. Drivers complained about issues with their line of sight being interrupted and there was concern about sparks setting foliage alight. Although the Railways appeared not to officially notice or use Perrin’s or others expertise the planting programme fell into abeyance.

 

In 1904 the Railways established their own nursery adjacent to the North Melbourne Station. When this land was required for expansion the nursery was moved locally to 1.5 acres alongside the railway embankment between the Essendon line and the Moonee Ponds Creek, near the Flemington-Bridge station. It contained 25,000 plants, shrubs, and young trees which were, in May 1908, worth about £350. These included deciduous trees for well-watered localities, pines for areas with poor soil, and a range of hardy plants such as acacias, grevilleas, and pepper trees for dry districts. As the programme advanced preference was given to Australian plants. The nursery had an initial budget of £1000 which had doubled by 1910. It was planned to defray the expense by planting wattles beside lines and annually stripping the bark to sell to tanneries. All plant stock was developed in the nursery so labour costs were the main expenses involved. Railway nursery plants were raised in a tough outdoor environment, propagated to be resistant.  Hot houses were not used, the aim being to produce acclimatized and hardy plants. The embankment site was limited in size and also was regularly flooded by the Moonee Ponds Creek. Sometime in the early 1920s the nursery was moved to a larger site opposite the station with a Flemington Road frontage but running back into Royal Park. This site was also more secure and the number of thefts was reduced. In the year ended 30 June 1909, VR planted 30,000 ornamental and shade trees statewide, then 70,000 the next year. About 80% survived. In 1922 the nursery raised 50,000 serviceable plants via open air cultivation including palms and pittosporum. In 1923 a record 59,000 plants were developed. By midcentury the nursery normally sent out 10,000 plants annually.

 

 

 North Melbourne Station garden. VR Magazine  Jan 1925. This was typical of the elaborate

gardens established at main stations and maintained by VR nursery staff.

 

Railway staff could annually indent for plants but before receiving a collection had to state the nature of the soil and subsoil, the average rainfall, whether the land is exposed to winds or sheltered, whether low lying, swampy or dry, whether drained artificially or naturally, and particulars regarding the progress made with growth established in the past. As well as staff working around stations the State’s 500 Gangers were encouraged to consider plantings beside their length of line as long as these were kept low. Small monetary prizes were given to the best kept stretch of line and those given awards had their service record endorsed this counting in their favour when applying for promotion.

 

 

The Flemington Bridge Nursery, 1949. VR Newsletter March 1949.

 

The Railways always actively recruited the Head Gardener and most had backgrounds in curating public gardens or managing orchards or plantations. More than a dozen under-gardeners were also employed, some specializing, eg in propagation, while others formed flying gangs sent out to maintain or plant out on railway property. Later outposts were established such as a Ballarat gardener tending to plantings in that region. Head Gardeners such as Alexander Hutt, living just over the creek in West Brunswick, became well known in their own locality as experts, active in their own district’s horticultural and garden clubs. The Head Gardener in the post WW2 period, Alexander James Topp of Wellington St, Flemington, actively pursued the ambitious goal of having a garden at every station in the State.

 

Railway Garden Competition

 

From 1896 the Commissioners offered a prize for the best station garden. It became a public relations success with locals pressing to have many hideously ugly and wearisome spots beautified. The competition was keen, with residents lobbying to have their station take the prize. This sometimes extended to residents donating their labour and funds to the stations’ gardening effort. In 1909 the competition extended to all Departmental residences and buildings. The organization became more sophisticated with the State divided into regions and different categories established, eg for those with and without piped water. The Commissioners offered cash prizes 1^st, 2 ^nd, 3^rd which although small, were for the winners, the equivalent to a week’s wage. The prize winner’s details were listed in the papers and VR publicity material, often with photographs of the garden. The initial prize pool of £115 had risen to over £1000 by 1954. Patrick appears to have won the first prize for the best kept residence in his region in 1923. It may have been that he received lesser prizes in previous years. However his type of garden may not have been favoured by the principal judge the Head VR Gardener, George Allen. Competitors were reminded by him that the effort taken in tending hardy shrubs would be equally regarded with that of producing a transient pretty display. Patrick went on to win the award for the best kept garden for fifteen consecutive years. Each win was reported in the Essendon Gazette together with an interview with Patrick O’Brien. Locals took an interest and pride in this showcase garden.

 

When Essendon Station was rebuilt in 1910 attention was paid to the ornamentation of the grounds.

Leader Feb 1911   Suburban railway gardens. Looking south  

 

In 1940 the Gidman family took over the gates and cottage. Walter and Rhoda had been born in the UK where Walter worked as a coal miner. In 1913 they, with extended family, migrated. In 1920 Walter joined the Railways to became a line repairer. The family were located on the Mornington Peninsula, working at gates and stations at many different locations before relocating to the city.  One wonders whether Patrick, who had moved around the corner to Grandison Street, continued to come round and cultivate the garden. The Gidmans returned to the Peninsula in 1949 and they were succeeded by Reginald and Doris McDougall and their family. During their ten years of service they and their children became part of the community with locals visiting at the cottage. The McDougall’s were the last of the Park Street gatekeepers as the role was wiped out by technology in 1959.  

 

 

The Coming of the Booms

 

In the early 1950s the crossing fatality rate was 16 per annum and had risen to 35 in 1957. This was despite regulations being introduced requiring cars to stop or slow at all crossings and the Level Crossing Committee’s decades of work. In 1954 the Railways committed to the abolition of level crossings with a specific process to allocate budgets for the work. Boom barriers were part of this programme.

 

 

The Park St booms were installed in March 1959. They were automatically controlled by a track circuit.

  VR Newsletter December 1959.

 

The first lot was purchased from South Australian Government in 1956. The barriers took eight seconds to fall or lift, but introduced a new problem of motorists trying to beat the boom. Some vehicles were stuck on the crossing between barriers or had the barrier fall on the motor. The roll out of the program was delayed by economy cuts in 1956. By 1959 they were at Park Street, the 11th so installed in Victoria. This reduced the number of level crossings protected by hand operated gates to about 127.

 

End of the line

 

After the McDougalls several families occupied the cottage. It became the DR-Departmental residence for a Ganger  with district responsibilities. Alexander Gordon Hampson was another UK born Ganger who, with his wife Beatrice and two daughters, lived at 50 Park Street during most of the 1960s. They were succeeded in 1967 by the Berry family. Ganger Frank Berry, wife Bette and family had lived rurally before moving to the crossing cottage. They left in 1972. (See Rod Berry’s article.)

 

It is not clear when the cottage was demolished. However locals still recall the comforting odours of a meal cooking, wafting from the cottage through the air at close of day.

 

The site of the gatekeepers cottage in June 2022. The shed contains railway equipment,

electrical switchboards etc. The junction box to the left of the image, standing next to

the rail, may be used to orientate this photo to the 1925 one. Photo M Kenny   

 

© M Kenny June 2022

 

Our fellow Time Traveller, Rod Berry, has recalled what it was like to live two feet from a railway line!  So don't get off the train yet, just a short journey still to do.

 

Acknowledgements

 

Many thanks to Bob Mackay who inspired this article and gave much encouragement along the way.

Technical advice by Warren Doubleday, David Langley, Greg Michael and Peter Willoughby. Many thanks for answering multiple questions and patiently explaining the issues.

Thanks to https://vicsig.net/for confirming the locations of the Park Street and Ardmillan Road crossings.

This work would not have been possible without the wealth of resources provided on the Victorian Railways.Net site Proudly supported by the Victorian Model Railway Society.  

Alex Bragiola, as always, advised on house and land matters.

 

Appendix A

Arthur Maguire’s letter regarding the impact of Vaccination was read out in the Second Reading on the Non Compulsory Vaccination in the Legislative Assembly in October 1895

 

Dear Sir,--In answer to your letter of the 11^th, I have to state that the notice of death in Saturday’s Age is quite correct. My child was as healthy as any child in the world from its birth to the 30th of April, which day she was vaccinated on, and the certificate was signed 7th May-successful vaccination by the public vaccinator of the district, Dr. Dickinson. About the 15th of the month I called in Dr. Martell, of Puckle-street and he said that it was a bad case of erysipelas from vaccination. At first her arm became very sore and very much swollen; next it went to her body, and finally the skin came all off her body, and she died on the first of June. Dr. Martell attended her all the time she was ill, and gave a certificate to the effect that she died from erysipelas through vaccination. I registered the death at Mr Young's, the registrar at Moonee Ponds. I gave him the certificate of death from the doctor, which he retained. He will give you any information regarding the certificate that you require, or Dr. Martell. I can prove to the satisfaction of any one, that previous to the vaccination there could not be a healthier child anywhere. In fact, the doctor says the child would be living now had she not been vaccinated. I will be only too happy to give you or any one all the assistance to information that lies in my power to have that murderous Vaccination Act repealed. I can get another Certificate or a copy if you think that it is required. You can publish this letter, or make anything that will gain a step towards abolishing that Act of Parliament. At the general elections in Essendon Town Hall I asked all the candidates were they in favour of or against vaccination as I do not believe in it, I wrote a letter to the Age to be published in last Saturday's issue about the cause of the death, but it has not appeared yet. Perhaps it was too strong.

I am, sir, yours, etc

A MAGUIRE

 

Erysipelas is an infection of the upper layers of the skin The most common cause is group A streptococcal bacteria,. Erysipelas results in a fiery red rash with raised edges.

For information re Dr Dickinson see http://timetravellers.pbworks.com/w/page/141059091/Race%20for%20a%20vaccine

For information re Dr Martell see http://timetravellers.pbworks.com/w/page/147419856/Nurse%20Scharness

 

References

 

Adam Smith P      Hear the Train Blow Nelson, Melbourne 1987 

Anchen, N           Life on the Victorian Railways Melbourne,: Sierra Publishing, 2014.

Anchen, N             Enginemen of the Victorian railways.  Melbourne; Sierra Publishing; 2012

Anchen, N             Enginemen of the Victorian railways. Melbourne; Sierra Publishing Volume ll 2013

Australian Dictionary of Biography 

Brett A                Some of the Choicest Specimens of Plant Life: Tree-Planting by Government Railways in Australasia pre-WWI Restoring Forests in Times of Contagion. Papers to Celebrate John Evelyn on the Occasion of his 400th Birthday. Edited by John Dargavel and Ben Wilkie. Australian & Aotearoa New Zealand Environmental History Network. October 2020

Chalmers R W      Annals of Essendon Essendon Historical Society 1998

 E Melbourne Encyclopedia of Melbourne online https://www.emelbourne.net.au/index.html

Lee J (Ed)           In the Service? A History of Victorian Railways Workers and Their Union  South Yarra, Hyland House, 1991 

Lee R                The railways of Victoria 1854-2004  Carlton, Melbourne University Publishing, 2007.

Turton K           Six and a half inches from destiny : the first hundred years of the Melbourne to Wodonga railway 1873-1973. Melbourne Australian Railway Historical Society, Victorian Division, 1973.

Yates, T           What a journey: life in the Victorian Railways 1948-1987. North Brighton: RailBooks Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian division), 2004.

BDM, Sands and MacDougall Directories, Electoral Rolls, Victorian Government Gazettes, Cemetery records, MMBW plans

 

PROV

VPRS 267/P0007, 1862/2212  C 1862/2212 The Melbourne and Essendon Railway Company v The Board of Land and Works

VPRS 3253/P0000,            11 Bill; Melbourne and Essendon Railway Vesting Bill

VPRS 3253/P0000,             51 Bill; Vest lines of Melbourne and Essendon Railway in Board of Lands and Works

VPRS 407/P0000,                834 Fire Inquest 834 KNIGHT Mary haystacks Pascoe Vale; Moonee Ponds

VPRS 3253/P0000,              174 Return; Number of gatekeepers cottages and two roomed cottages on Victorian Railways with costs and number of occupants

VPRS 3253/P0000, 248     Maps surveys railway lines

VPRS 17077/P0001,         Contract No. 1450/1251 - Newmarket to Essendon Railway Line Contract for duplication - Contractor Humphrys

VPRS 18342/P0001,          Record No 4844 North Eastern Line (Melbourne to Upper Murray Railway) (Book 18); Sections of roads and watercourses crossed by the line of railway; (E142)

VPRS 242/P000, 67/P6931 Inquiry as to whether there is any Crown Land within two miles of the terminus;  Essendon

VPRS 418/P0000, North Eastern Line North Eastern Line: correspondence 1870 to 1875; surveys 1867 to 1869

 

PROV, Wills and Probate, Shipping Records, Inquests, Criminal Trial Briefs, Civil case files   

Lands Department Title Deeds

National Archives of Australia Service Records, Embarkation Rolls

Newspapers, The Age, the Argus, The Herald, Essendon Gazette, Smiths Weekly, Weekly Times, Punch, Flemington Spectator, The Australasian, The Herald, Leader  

Railway Department Melbourne North Eastern Railway Plan 18 Nov 1869, courtesy R Mackay 

Victoria Parliament Legislative Assembly Report from the Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly upon the Melbourne & Essendon Railway Bill: together with the proceedings of the Committee and minutes of evidence 1859 

Victoria Parliament Essendon railway : correspondence relating to the proposed purchase of the railway by Her Majesty's Government together with the reports of the Engineer-in-Chief on the state of the line, its present value, &c. 1864

Victoria Parliament Report from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways on the proposed Mt. Alexander-road and Buckley-street, Essendon, electric tramway : together with minutes of evidence, plan, and map 1928

Victorian Railways Annual Reports 1878-1960 Courtesy Victorian Railways Net.

Victorian Railways VR Magazine 1924-1930, VR Newsletters 1931-1979 Courtesy Victorian Railways.Net

Victorian Railways Rules and Bye Laws 1864 Courtesy Victorian Railways.Net 

Victorian Railways Ways and Works Instructions Manual 1910 Courtesy Victorian Railways.Net 

Victorian Railways Collection of Standard Building Drawings Courtesy Victorian Railways.Net

Exhibitions Lost Jobs: The Changing World of Work  On the Tracks Old Treasury Building Melbourne 2022