April 30...

1938

It was decided to hold a Queen Carnival to aid the Dunolly Hospital with Queens selected from Dunolly, Bealiba and Tarnagulla.

Some of the girls took this competition seriously and really got their teeth into it...

April 29...

1873

Captain Baker of Goldsborough claimed to have seen the transit of Vulcan across the Sun.

April 28...

1896

The Middle Bridge Cricket Club Picnic was held at Hole's Paddock; it was well attended with easily more than one hundred visitors both young and old playing a great variety of picnic games until tea was enjoyed at 5pm then games continued afterwards until 8pm.
Catering was provided by Mr Davenport's Bakery in Dunolly.
Cricket match results - Waanyarra 110, Middle Bridge 117.

April 27...

1902

The Maryborough Town Band held a concert on the Recreation Reserve at Dunolly to raise funds to aid the Cardigan Mine Disaster Relief Fund.

April 26...

1895

The Minister for Agriculture, the Dept Secretary and the Government sericultural expert arrived in Dunolly to inspect the Government Perfume/Scent Farm with a view to growing mulberry trees to promote the development of sericulture (silk farming).
Once out at the Scent Farm the horses were left standing in the buggy and they bolted; the Ministerial party was forced to return to Dunolly in an old wagon pulled by a plough horse.

April 25...

1895

It was reported that recent rains had given a good supply of water in the district but not enough for farmers to begin ploughing.

April 24...

1906

Leslie Lee fell over a bag of hay in the stables and broke his arm, again, the same one that was broken in the January 15th accident when he was hit by a train at the Broadway crossing.

April 23...

1860

The Dunolly Market Square was officially opened with much fan-fare....which failed to lift its profile.
A dismal failure as a market instead, between 1865 -1873, it was used to stable goats and the Cobb & Co horses until someone finally found a use for it...they ripped it down and recycled it into the grandstand at the Recreation Reserve.

April 22...

1890

At a meeting of the Bet Bet Shire Council the new-fangled proposed free trade movement nonsense amongst local farmers was chewed over in great detail.

April 21...

1859

The first races were held in Dunolly over the 21st and 22nd, with the after race dinner held at the Mt Bealiba Hotel reported to have been 'an evening to remember'.
Oooh, er.

April 20...

1901 

The driest season has been experienced in Dunolly in 36 years, dams that have never been dry are now dried out, water supply at Murphy’s Flat (Murphy's Creek) and Rheola gave out yesterday as did the supply at Dunolly for several hours.

April 19....

1936

The newly remodelled Dunolly Hospital was officially reopened by Premier Mr Dunstan.

April 18...

1870
Mr. Mudge arranged a picnic for his pupils at the Recreation Reserve.
Mr. Boan of the ’White Swan Hotel’ and Mr Burns, the Jones’Creek Post Master, collected for the picnic.
Further delicious details of the lovely day can be gleaned HERE.

April 16...

1929 

The boiler at John Britten’s eucalyptus distillery at Goldsborough exploded, fatally injuring Britten and a bystander.

April 15...

1968

The stone cairn outside the Dunolly Museum was unveiled by Marcia Ferrier from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

April 14...

1857

Joe Kitchen fought Bill Melody -and won - at Grassy Flat near the White Swan Hotel for prize money of 450 pounds.
Kitchen won after 40 mins, with further action taking place outside the ring when temporary seating collapsed throwing diggers, toffs and tarts all into a heap.

April 13...

1885

The weather in Dunolly & district was reported to have been heavy rain with more than 1.5 inches falling in 80 mins.

April 12...

1857

A complimentary dinner held for Dr Owens - the member for the Loddon - at the Bendigo Hotel, Broadway, Dunolly.

April 11...

1900

The Dunolly Races were held at the Dunolly Racecourse but were attended only moderately.
In doing a preliminary warm-up canter Vido bolted through the fence throwing the rider but without serious injuries.

April 10...

1876

The early train from Maryborough to Bet Bet came to a standstill near Bet Bet Railway Station as the fire had been allowed to go out.
*gasp*

April 9...

1928 

The annual fete and charity sports meeting was held at Rheola to fund raise for the Dunolly and Inglewood hospitals with total takings of 850 pounds

April 8...

1941

The Dunolly State School hosted the Sports Association meeting with 9 teams competing.
The Hawksley silver cup was won outright by Dunolly State School with the Dunolly Progress Association Shield held for a 2nd year in succession by Moliagul State School.
Jack Mason (Moliagul) won the Boys Championship while J.Parks (Bealiba State School) won the Girls’.

April 7....

1910

The annual district effort for the Dunolly Hospital resulted with 150 tons of firewood delivered to the hospital,  charity sports events were held in the afternoon with 12 pounds collected at the gate on Wednesday.
A further 100 tons of firewood was delivered on Thursday, all wood donated by various wood cutters and carters from all over the district.

April 6...

1931

Back to Tarnagulla celebrations continued with a fancy dress ball in the Victoria Hall, with many competitions and reunions amongst the Fire Brigade, Masonic Lodge and Manchester Unity Oddfellows. The Fire Brigade Hall was called into use to cope with the amount of people who could not fit into the Victoria Hall.

April 4...

1874

A large group of miners witnessed a ‘war’ between small black ants raiding the nest of larger red ants at Mosquito Flat, which the small black ants won by sheer force of numbers.

April 3...

1909

A cricket match between Dunolly and Maryborough at Princess Park was soundly won by Maryborough by 1 wicket for 183 runs while Dunolly was all out for 26.

*sob* Cricket, again!

April 2...

1905

Mr William Watt’s Bicycle Depot in Broadway was broken into and a Number One Hummer cycle stolen to the value of 16 pounds.
The thief removed bricks from the building at the rear to gain access to the shop.
It was thought to be a tramp who had been hanging about the town the three previous days.
Now that, ladies, is loitering with intent...

April 1...

1857

It was reported in the Government Gazette that the Dunolly Gaol was complete and ‘open for business’.
And no doubt it did a roaring trade...