September 30.....

1893

For Sale.
Four roomed weatherboard house with kitchen and dairy attached (a kitchen?! be still my beating heart!).
3 Milch cows, 5 young cattle, 2 springers and scarifiers (what?! no partridge in the pear tree?).
Apply to Mrs Hawkins at Bromley.

Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla would have just rattled all of that off had we but asked her.
But, alas, she was busy elsewhere.
Probably milking the cows....
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Vintage Machinary and GOLD and water enthusiasts alert! Escape the footy fever!

This weekend run away from that hideous Grand Final repeat that is invading everything and hit Dunolly for the Central Goldfields Rally and Tractor Pull!
It's out at the old Dunolly Racecourse, easily found it's on the Dunolly-Timor Road which branches off to the left from the Dunolly - Avoca Road or you can just follow the chugging sounds.
An itty bitty $5 entry fee and vintage cars, trucks, tractors and displays are laid out before you and all your dreams will come true.
More info on audio HERE.
Unless that dream involves a vanilla slice at the Dunolly Bakery which I'd advise you to snaffle before you head out to the Racecourse as you need to keep your strength up while drooling enthusiastically admiring those beautiful, delectable, splendiferous vintage vehicles.
If GOLD! is more your bag, then hit the metal detector shops and head out to where the Hand of Faith nugget was liberated from the soil.
Yeah, Kingower, not far from Dunolly but wear sensible shoes and remember the Joe Blakes (snakes) are out and about so be careful.
But, with the hordes predicted to be stampeding out there the snakes will probably head for the hills.
Water... the Laanecoorie Reservoir is fair bursting at the seams -almost literally - so go nuts with your camera!
Goodness knows when Hughie will send 'er down again!

September 29.....

1893

A £1 reward was on offer for anyone who'd sing like a canary and let slip any information that lead to the conviction of the dastardly devil who cut open the big Salvation Army drum.

Nothing to do with that old gal in the previous post....of course....

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September 28.....

1857

The Church of England ( known as the Cof E to you and I) established the Jones Creek School with Mr William Harper installed as the Schoolmaster.

This is not he but think how many wouldn't have forgotten their homework with this gal teaching them...

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September 27.....

1888

The Governor himself was due to pop into Dunolly on this, a close holiday (owing to the National Show at St Arnaud) but his train was a tad late as the engine of the ordinary train ran off the line without a please or thank you which held up the trains from Dunolly and Maryborough.

This is not the Governor of Victoria.

But he'd most likely tell us to eat (the) cake he missed in his honour.

Nom nom nom nom
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September 26.....

1936

Susso workers went onto the old gold diggings for material to use for the road surface when one of the eagle-eyed chaps spied the colour of gold; soon a search found several more specks.
The men were hard at it all day with the dishes but no further finds came to light.

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September 25....

1893

Mr Sheehan, that daredevil of a baker, introduced electric light into the Dunolly Flour Mill.

The locals were well impressed at the news.
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September 24.....

1865

Philip Chauncy, District Surveyor, and his 2nd wife, Susan, were blessed with a son.

September 23....

1889

The Dunolly train left the tracks as passed the Inglewood train at the Arnold Bridge Railway Station.

A train.

1934

Cycling road race over 18 miles was run from Dunolly to Moliagul and back to Dunolly with the placings as follows;
1st G. Davies
2nd P. Raven
3rd E. Thomas
Winning time was 53.33 by two lengths.

Go on, take a good long look at the painful crossbar, boys...

September 22....

1874

Residents of Dunolly and surrounding areas felt an earthquake strong enough to shake their homes.

Tossed like this ship on the waves....

1934

The Victorian Homing Association were racing pigeons from Dunolly to Melbourne which resulted in the fastest feathered flocks with their average speed (with a Westerly blowing) to be 1,222 yards per minute.
Proving carrier pigeon is still a viable option to Abbott's two cans on a piece of string national broadband network.

Yes, this is a pigeon.
As it's eating Pigeon Peas.

September 21.....

1921

On the eve of her wedding Miss Kennedy, daughter of the proprietor of the Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser, was presented with a silver fruit and cake dish by the newspaper staff.

Sadly, Miss Kennedy failed to save us a slice of her wedding cake so we get to look at her empty teapot instead.

Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla would not be happy.

September 20....

1864
Bust out the evening tea meeting gloves, Muriel.
Bet Bet was proclaimed a Shire!

September 19.....

1954

The Argus Penny-Wise Hint came from Mrs McLoughlin of Broadway, Dunolly who shared this wee gem with all and sundry;

When fireside brushes wear at the end away from the handle saw the handle off and reattach to the worn end.

Onya, Mrs Mc, Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla would thoroughly approve.

September 18.....

1856

A Dunolly storekeeper wrote to The Argus suggesting that a gold office and gold escort should be established on the Dunolly goldfield as soon as possible as the numerous heavy parcels of gold were being sent via the Murray for wont of a better transport system to Melbourne.

Gerald was forever unfairly tainted with the nom de plume of Goldie by the other goats.

September 17....

1871

St Mary's Catholic Church, Dunolly was officially opened by Bishop Gould from Melbourne.

This is not Bishop Gould.
Nor is he attempting to Dropkick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts of Life.

1937

Hear ye, hear ye... Mr Norman Hosier, who hath been Registrar of the Victorian Swimming Association, would doth resign his position as he was dubbed Fair Postmaster of yon Dunolly township.
As you were....

September 16.....

1860

A topaz 'the size of an egg' (we're assuming chicken egg not emu egg) was found at Dunolly.

1884

The Dunolly correspondent reported that a company for the drying and canning of fruit was established at Dunolly.

Fortunately 'bowl of fruit in a can' hasn't been invented yet.

September 15.....

1887

Two lucky chappies, slogging their guts out to build the Dunolly - Inglewood railway line unearthed a gold, sparkling nugget worth more than £1,000.

Railway workers were all kitted out with mash-hammers, picks, axes and the odd gold pan....

1932

The Dunolly Railway Station office was broken into with the tea-leaves making off with £14 and two bags of registered mail.

Fortunately, Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla informs us that no kittens were travelling via the postal service on that day.

September 14.....

1893

There was constant rain today (so reported the local Dunolly correspondent to the Melbourne media) with heavy showers and hail which will ensure plenty of milk and butter but, we fear, the crops and grasses will be very poor this season.

Oh, yeah, she's really impressed with this news.

So impressed, in fact, she's packed her bags and is running away from home.

1914

The steam car tootling about between Maryborough and St Arnaud broke down at Dunolly (the driver was really having second helpings of the vanilla slices) which delayed all the rail traffic for 90 mins and made the Fat Bloke in charge of the controls rooly miffed.

This is a picture we took earlier.

Before it broke down.

Obviously.

September 13.....

1882

The winemakers of the Dunolly region were hoping to secure 'experienced and skilled labour' from France or Germany.
Apparently, they didn't discriminate between a good Riesling or Bordeaux.
So long as they pulled their digits out and got a grip 'o' the grappa.

"Geeze, Dad, put yer back into it"

1882

Local press reported that foxes were becoming quite numerous in the Ballarat district.

Pictured here is Basil Brush (top) with his natural enemy (bottom) the Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chicken.

September 12.....

1877

The Committee of the Dunolly and District Hospital made the executive decision to hold the annual hospital fete on November 9 again that year.
A miner was so excited at the news that when he went to fetch a billy of water for a celebratory cup of tea he found a gold nugget.

No matter how hard he tried Billy just couldn't convince the girls his backyard well was brimming with nuggets.

1894

The annual sports day was held at Laanecoorie, with much frivolity amidst the competition of the horse, foot and cycle races.

Sadly, the horses didn't place in the cycle races but, boy, did they shine in the foot racing!

September 11.....

1874

A locomotive and tender were sent to trundle along the track to test the holding weight of the bridge over the Bet Bet Creek- fortunately for all on board the rail deflection was only 1/3 of an inch.
The reporter for the Melbourne media reported that it was a lovely run in the train, as Maryborough to Dunolly was a mere 13 miles the trip was made within 20 mins.
Something commuters wouldn't know about these days hmmm.

See? No wild flinging of persons from trains with that 1/3 inch deflection.

Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla would not be impressed, I fear.
 

1963

*Shock, horror, gasp*
The Dunolly and District Hospital finished the financial year in the red with a glaring deficit of 1470 pounds.
But wait!
This was due to the recent renovations which updated the hospital considerably, so not to fret, Mr Accountant Money Person Auditor Thingie!

Have some of this, it'll shift all what ails you.

September 10.....

1931

Good things come to those who wait...and to those who are prepared to put in the hard yards like this chappie; remember the Susso worker back in August who dug up a 58oz nugget for himself?
 Well, he unearthed a 17 1/4oz nugget, also in Waanyarra, on this day to keep it company.


1942 The Dunolly District Bush Fire Brigade was formed.
And the McKenzie brothers, of Dunolly, have more than a century's worth of firefighting between them.

Remember - change your clock, change your smoke alarm battery!

Dunolly was marooned over the weekend, maybe the town was treated to its own Bet Bet Shire Bathing Beauties...

September 9.....

1885

Something even better than hailstones as large as hazelnuts was the splendid rain which had fallen in copious amounts in Dunolly and surrounding areas, reported the local correspondent to the Melbourne press, which no doubt benefited the 'sickly looking crops' although it would have done bugger-all for the fruit blossoms in the orchards damaged by recent frosts.

September 8.....

1882

Everyone was talking about it and the local press were trumpeting it from the rooftops;
hail-stones as large as hazelnuts fell all over Tarnagulla.

This is the Spring Goddess in her previously happy mood sprinkling harmless petals over Tarnagulla.
What made her turn?!

In the spirit of 'when life gives you lemons....' we'd like to think the clever ladies of Tarnagulla fashioned themselves a wild skating rink.

Where they started a wild ice skating derby...

September 7.....

1868

Hughes' Store, owned by Michael and Mary Hughes, in Dunolly was burnt down.

Dunno.

Don't ask me.

1938

The Queen Carnival was organised to help raise funds to wipe out the £500 overdraft of the Dunolly and District Hospital; with £934 2/ 7d  collected the Dunolly Town Hall was positively packed to the rafters where everyone from far and wide was treated to the sight of the worthy Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla being crowned as the Queen of the Carnival.
Read HERE of the hard fund-raising efforts of Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla, who earned the title Queen of Charity.

This is not Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla but some rabid French mermaid who requested a free guest spot.

Miss Margaret Taig of Tarnagulla was unavailable.

September 6.....

1862

Over two days, of the 5th and the 6th, patches of dirt at Moliagul went on the market for the first time being sold with flair and elan from the Dunolly Court House.

See? With her wiles no one could resist the Plano fairy!

1971

The Victorian Education Department (as it was then known) announced that, in an effort to decentralise administration that school directorates would be created to govern regional schools with Dunolly, Maryborough, Skipton, Ballan, Ararat and Stawell included in the area measuring 150 miles long and 100 miles wide.

They started this 'decentralisation' business young...

September 5.....

1896

Although Dunolly-born cycling whiz A.A Middleton won the 50 miles Interclub Premiership - the route was from Coburg to Pretty Sally Hill and back again (pant, pant) - the South Melbourne Cycling Club filled 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places.

Would you believe this bike was only ridden by a little old lady up the hill to church on Sundays....?

1903 

Yea was shaken but not stirred by an earthquake.

The hen house was full of ruffled feathers and gossip for days afterwards....

September 4.....

Well!
Talk about history repeating itself....!

1898

A day full of constant, heavy rain resulted in 154 points (39mm in the new money) of cloud juice with further storms coming over the horizon.

This lass is prepared for battling the raging torrents of water in her local bath tub.

1903

At 8.45pm that night Dunollyites were surprised by an earthquake which shook houses, rattling crockery in cupboards and doors and windows in their frames.
The men in the mines felt the quake, too.
This was followed by a most violent storm that flattened many trees and unroofed a number of houses but left no one hurt.

The Chaos Theory is that the beating of a butterflies wings can cause a mega-huge storm on the other side of the world.

Besides...the Victorians didn't illustrate earthquakes or storms.

September 3.....

1878

The railway line was officially opened through to Bealiba; with a great deal of partying a bullock was roasted on a spit on the green while a banquet was held in the schoolhouse and, later that evening, a formal ball polished off the remainder of the day.

Showing the district how it was done Bealiba had a right proper knees up!

September 2.....

1937

The Bet Bet Shire Council announced that, due to the rampaging Infantile Paralysis (aka Polio) epidemic in Melbourne that any school teachers or public servants even thinking about setting foot in The Shire would be isolated for 21 days with the quarantine officer Dr Crooke.

They had to play handmaidens to the doctors but these old gals were tough work horses who gave their all.

September 1.....

Crikey Moses, there's a shedload for this date.
Let's pick a couple at random and leave the others as a surprise for next year, hmmm?

1899

Mr and Mrs James Oxley, from out at Murphy's Flat (aka Murphy's Creek), were both thrown with not-so-gay abandon from their buggy when their horse went ballistic and smashed the buggy into a tree.
Jim Oxley got off lightly with abrasions while his missus was left with a broken collar bone and several broken ribs.

"...I promise to love, honour and show you the wildest ride in a horse-drawn vehicle, yeee-ha!"

1935

The farmers and graziers from Dunolly, Archdale, Moliagul, Bet Bet and surrounding districts were all in agreement when they felt in their waters that the coming season would be a successful one given the substantial rainfall in recent months.
The more things change, the more they stay the same...!

See? So successful were the rains you can almost see, if you squint and stand on one leg, the original Dunolly Castle transplanted from Scotland in the paddocks near the railway line...