Mountain Tales: Issue 09

The Mount Dandenong & District Historical Society aims to collect, preserve and share the rich history of the district. The society is especially interested in the communities of Mount Dandenong, Kalorama, Olinda, Sassafras, Ferny Creek and Tremont. These are the ridgetop villages on the mountain range clearly visible from metropolitan Melbourne. The society welcomes new members with an interest in local history and meets each month. It maintains a small collection of significant local history material. We have some limited volunteer capacity to assist with private research. Many of the stories here have previously appeared on the society’s Facebook page. If you would like to learn more, please contact the society’s Secretary via email at mtddhs@gmail.com March 2026 No.9 The push for “area schools” in Victoria found its way into the hills in the 1940s. Read all about it at p.4. The caption on this postcard from 1913 reads: `Mt. Dandenong North. Showing “Mountjoy.” 1 February this year marked the centenary of the renaming of the oldest settlement on the ridge as Kalorama, driven by the vagaries and confusion of postal deliveries. The post office shown here was the smaller building in the foreground, now part of the Destiny Point café. (Image: MDDHS collection) Inside: The Great Fires of 1926 p.2 The Murdoch Pavilion, Ferny Creek p.3 A Vacuum at the bowsers in Sassafras p.5 An end to the six o’clock swill p.6 March 2026 No.9 Bushfires The Great Fires of 1926 in the hills One hundred years ago, the Dandenongs were in the grip of bushfires that would eventually engulf other parts of the state and lead to the first real reckoning by European settlers of their relationship with fire in the Victorian landscape. In terms of size, the fires of 1926 across Victoria – dubbed the Great Fires of 1926 – were comparable with those to date in 2026. But the human toll was far greater. Fires between late January and early March claimed at least 31 lives statewide.* Now beyond living memory and eclipsed by events in 1939, 1983, 2009 and more recently, they are largely overlooked. Whole families were killed, entire towns and communities razed. In addition to those killed, up to 700 people were injured and 1000 properties destroyed. Over 400,000 hectares burned. When “normalised” against other years in terms of lives lost and buildings damaged measured against population, economic and other factors, the 1926 fires are still considered by some to be the worst on record. The most deeply affected parts of the state were the Dandenong Ranges, Upper Yarra Valley and West Gippsland, where most of the deaths occurred in isolated logging communities. It was barely three years since the last major fires tore through the hilltop communities of the Dandenongs. Early bushfires in Olinda and Sassafras in October 1925 were a bad omen. On Sunday 31 January 1926, the temperature in Melbourne reached 30°C by 10am. By 4pm, it was 40°C. At One Tree Hill, near the lookout tower, a fire began at 2pm, burning towards the National Park before a wind change turned it back on itself. Another fire started in Janesleigh Dell in Upper Ferntree Gully, burning up towards Tremont where only the efforts of the owner and some locals saved the local store and post office from destruction. The fire continued down Mast Gully towards Upwey before being halted by a southerly wind change. Other fires on this day included outbreaks at Mount Evelyn, Olinda, Monbulk, Lysterfield, Clematis and Narre Warren. Fires burned across the hills unchecked over the following week. One fire, believed to have been started by campers, swept down from Mount Dandenong into the countryside around Lilydale. (Arson was also posited as the cause of some fires.) Several homes were destroyed at Cockatoo as over 1000 volunteers were rushed into the hills to assist. Much blame was directed towards the negligence of absentee landowners for failing to keep their land cleared as fire swept up the north-west face of the hills towards Kalorama on 3 February after burning through several orchards in the foothills. Two days later, fire that had been contained again threatened One Tree Hill. By the early hours of the ‘Bushfire Blue’ by Sir Arthur Streeton, depicting smoke from the 1926 fires. Private collection (Image: Australian Art Sales Digest, SYR) following day, a two-kilometre front was burning towards Upper Ferntree Gully. (Among the leading firefighters on this occasion was the Anglican minister from Belgrave, Reverend C.H. Clark, whose son Manning would later rise to prominence as an Australian historian.) That night only one home was destroyed at Tremont and much of the National Park and its famous fern gully were spared. These would not survive the weekend, however, as flames engulfed the park’s key attractions as the fire headed back to One Tree Hill, where the home of Mrs Jane Murphy was saved, along with the state school. On 7 February, fires in Belgrave and Olinda and further afield at Healesville and Lilydale claimed more houses. All of this was just a precursor to “Black Sunday”, 14 February 1926. At Selby, 19 weekend homes were destroyed. But into the timber country of the Upper Yarra Valley and further into West Gippsland, bushfires exacted a ghastly toll. Simultaneous fires struck communities from the outskirts of Melbourne right across Gippsland as far as Bairnsdale. Warburton, Powelltown, Gilderoy, Gembrook, Noojee and Erica bore the brunt of the flames. But there were other places affected too: Christmas Hills, Yarra Glen, Daylesford, Kinglake, Myrtleford, Bacchus Marsh and beyond. The open cut coalmine at Yallourn was ignited by bushfire. The single greatest tragedy was at Worrley’s Mill near Gilderoy, where 14 people died. At Big Pats Creek, also in Upper Yarra, the entire Donald family of five plus another mill worker were killed. As these fires occurred on a Sunday, many of the mill workers were away, a factor credited with saving many lives. There was passive resistance from the conservative government of the day to any form of inquiry, other than coronial inquests. Despite this the 1926 fires led to some immediate reforms that would eventually come to define rural firefighting in the state for decades to come. Until this time, while town brigades fell under the Country Fire Brigades Board, there was no organised rural fire service. A Bush Fire Brigades Association was formed, eventually superseded by the Country Fire Authority almost 20 years, more disastrous bushfires and two royal commissions later. (Continued p.4) 2 March 2026 No.9 Heritage Rejuvenation of the Murdoch Pavilion The Murdoch pavilion in the Ferny Creek Recreation reserve, pictured in 2025 and in the 1930s. The facility will be given a new lease of life following a grant from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (Photos: John Schauble, SLV) In a rare win for heritage preservation in the hills, the the Fern Tree Gully News reported, “it was fitting to Ferny Creek Recreation Reserve Committee has secured call upon Miss Murdoch to send down the first bowl of substantial funding to restore and upgrade the Murdoch the season.” Pavilion. The building, one of the three significant structures at the reserve along with the main hall and the log cabin, celebrates its centenary in 2027. Eliza Jane Murdoch, secretary of the reserve committee, was a co-proprietor with her sister, Grace, of the `Braco Park’ guesthouse (now the site of the Built originally to cater to the first tennis courts, the Sherbrooke Community School), established in 1910 building has a rich history. It served as a tea rooms and and one of the earliest guesthouses in the hills. After its caretaker’s cottage for many years but has lately been purchase for use as a hospital during World War 1 and unoccupied and in desperate need of renovation. The the marriage of her sister in 1918, Eliza (always building also has a close connection to one of Australia’s referred to simply as “Miss Murdoch”) remained in the most famous families. hills and was highly active in local affairs. She was the Popular with both locals and visitors, the reserve has been managed for the past century by a local volunteer committee. It sits is on public land controlled by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). The committee has secured $78,000 through the DEECA Port Phillip Region, Asset Upgrades Programme. This will enable works that will see the pavilion restored for use by community groups and for hire to the public. first president of the local Eye and Ear Hospital Auxiliary, the Australian Women’s National League, the Progress Association, and a member of the first committee of management of the Log Cabin Presbyterian congregation (later the Kennon Memorial Church congregation). The pavilion was joined by the main hall, opened in 1927 as the ‘Palais de Danse’ by Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce (who was also the local MHR). The log cabin (1925) is the oldest structure. The recreation reserve originally came into being after a road realignment in 1909 left a 10-acre wedge of land. This was set aside for public use. (These days the CFA During the 1930 Easter sports “soft drink and ice cream were provided by Miss Cation and Miss Stephens” from the Murdoch Pavilion. fire station, the Scout halls, tennis club and the A large number of locals gathered at the pavilion to horticultural society all occupy portions of it.) celebrate Miss Murdoch’s 80th birthday in February In the 1910s, a sports oval was constructed and work on laying down a bowling green began in 1923. Play only commenced on the green in 1926, as there were water problems. But bowling was abandoned in favour of tennis a year or so later. An anonymous donor (later identified as Mrs Rhoda Doery) pledged £1000 towards the construction of a pavilion and other improvements, of which £50 was earmarked for the employment of a caretaker. “As it was desired that the pavilion to be erected adjacent to the tennis court should be named the “Murdoch” pavilion,” 1935. She died at her home in Sassafras on 9 January 1937, aged 81, survived by her sister and two brothers, the Rev. Patrick Murdoch, of Camberwell, and prominent academic and essayist Professor (later Sir) Walter Murdoch, of the University of Western Australia. She was an aunt of Sir Keith Murdoch, head of the Herald & Weekly Times newspaper group, and thus a great aunt of the American media baron Rupert Murdoch. Fern Tree Gully News 22.10.1927, 6.4.1929, 1.3.1935; Argus 11.2.1937 3 March 2026 No.9 Education The push for area schools in the Dandenongs Hands on training at the Scottsdale Area School, Tasmania (Image: State Library of Tasmania) Towards the end of World War 2, there was much interest in educational reform in Victoria, especially in smaller rural and semi-rural communities where the sustainability of local state schools was challenging. Agriculture was still a major industry locally and many found an educational model adopted in Tasmania greatly appealing. The “area school”, which revolved around transporting students to the school rather than taking schools to the students, was widely adopted in the island state as government struggled to staff tiny, isolated schools with ill-trained student teachers often barely older than their pupils. The area school model adopted in Tasmania focussed on equipping students in rural areas with life skills, such as farming, until they reached minimum school leaving age of 14. It eventually came under criticism for failing to offer students broader career opportunities or access to a higher level of education. Part of the campaign to introduce Victorians to the concept of the area school was through promotional films and one such made its way to Mount Dandenong. The Lilydale Express 2 June 1944 reported: “On June 15 an interesting night is promised to all who take an interest in present day education. On that date, at the C.W.A. Hall, the school committee will screen the Education department’s color film showing the rural area schools of Tasmania. Mr. Morris, who preceded Mr. Matters, the present head teacher, toured the Tasmanian rural area schools on behalf of the Victorian Education department, and will give running commentary on the film. Mr. Barrow, of Kalorama, has kindly offered his services and the use of his movie projector to screen the films. Invitations have been issued to all parents within an approximate radius of eight miles to view the film, the object being to form a district committee of the schools in this locality, for which purpose an excellent site is in view.” For a fascinating look at Tasmania’s area schools, go to: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/slat/blog/tasmanias-areaschools/ Learning the reins, Hadley Area School Tasmania (Image: State Library of Tasmania) The Great Fires of 1926 in A hundred years on, the Dandenongs and Victoria remain highly vulnerable to bushfire. The climate has already changed, and the speed of spread and other fire behaviours recorded during the most recent conflagrations bear witness to the dangers ahead. * This was the documented death toll, reflected in contemporary media reports and coronial proceedings. In recent years the figure has somewhat mysteriously been inflated to 60, possibly the result of some curious double counting since the late 1970s. Even considering the fluid bush population of the early 20th century, it seems improbable that around 30 unnamed citizens would remain unaccounted for. A credible figure is 39, derived in a study that also takes into account deaths that were more broadly fire related, e.g. heart attack while firefighting the hills See: K. Haynes, J. Handmer, J. McAneney, A. Tibbits and L. Coates, `Australian bushfire fatalities 1900-2008: Exploring trends in relation to the “Prepare, stay and defend or leave early” policy’, Environmental). Science and Policy, (2010) 13, 185-94. For a fuller account of the fires, see: John Schauble, `”Where are the Others?” Victoria’s forgotten 1926 bushfires’, Victorian Historical Journal, (2019) Vol.90, No.2, December, 301-17; Nikki Henningham with Helen Morgan, `Florrie Hodges: On Being Brave’, Victorian Historical Journal, (2020) Vol.91, No.1, June, 301-17, 163-68. Other sources: John Schauble, Hills of Fire, Sassafras-Ferny Creek Fire Brigade, 1992; Robert Murray & Kate White, State of Fire : A history of volunteer firefighting and the Country Fire Authority in Victoria, Hargreen, North Melbourne, 1995; newspapers, various. 4 March 2026 No.9 Motoring A Vacuum at the bowsers in Sassafras Despite some pretty ordinary roads, motorists headed for the hills from the early 1900s and began to penetrate the upper reaches in earnest in the 1910s. Early photographs of Tutt & Storrie’s motor garage in Sassafras contain precious hints about the evolution of early motoring in Australia. One interesting aspect is the change in the branding of petrol or “motor spirit” as it was known in the early days. Tutt & Storrie switched from providing horsedrawn transportation into the hills to motor transport in 1913. Harry Tutt and Les Storrie also started the Mountain District Pioneer Motor Service garage to service their own and other vehicles. The garage remained in business for over a century. The bowsers over the years were adorned with various brand names. Among the earliest were those of the Vacuum Oil Company (VOCO), which originally sold lubricants. Vacuum Oil came to Australia in 1895, having been founded in the US in 1866. Incorporated in 1904, it merged with the Colonial Oil Company in 1906 and from 1916 sold fuels under the Kalif, Plume (benzine) and Laurel (kerosene) brands. Mergers in the US eventually saw it become part of the Mobil Corporation. Bowsers dispensing Plume, Plume Super Ethyl, VOCO and Shell at Tutt & Storrie’s, Sassafras. (SLV, MDDHS collection, detail.) An early photo of Tutt & Storrie’s featured in the society’s 2026 calendar shows a “Visible Petrol” bowser. (The word bowser comes from the name of Sylvanus Bowser [1854-1938], who invented the early fuel pump in the US. The use of the word to mean a petrol pump is peculiar to Australia and New Zealand.) One version of a visible petrol pump was invented by Sydney engineer Frank Hammond in 1920. This allowed for fuel to be hand pumped up into a glass container on top of the bowser so that the motorist could see how much fuel was then dispensed by gravity to their vehicle. There were other variations. Electric pumps and metered systems began to replace these pumps as early as the 1930s, with computerised systems introduced from the 1960s. Atop the Sassafras bowsers over the years are the brand names VOCO, Plume, Mobil and Shell. Other signs show “Plume Super Ethyl” – the earliest super grade petrol in Australia – introduced in the 1930s. Sources: Tout-Smith, Deborah. (2004) Vacuum Oil Company, Australia in Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2513 https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/207844 Altona Laverton Historical Society Newsletter, No.55, May 2019 Crime The great Ferny Creek post office heist During the long tenure of the Peel family (1927-57), the Ferny Creek Store and Post office was burgled one Sunday night in January 1949 and the safe stolen. Carried 30 metres and loaded onto a motor vehicle, it was later recovered on a hillside in Tremont off what is now Churchill Drive, blown open and the contents rifled. The safe contained cash, postal notes, stamps and petrol ration tickets. It was the latter – the 200 one-gallon petrol coupons – that the thieves were apparently after, and these made up the majority of the negotiables in the safe. The thieves took just these – and £25 in cash. An identical burglary occurred at the Silvan Post Office the year before but with a larger cash haul. … and they said such things never happened in the hills! (Lilydale Express 21.1.1949) 5 March 2026 No.9 Hospitality An end to the swill For half a century from 1916 until 1966, getting a drink in a hotel or public house in Victoria after six o’clock was nigh on impossible unless you were a bona fide traveller. Six o’clock closing was introduced in all Australian states except Queensland and WA during World War 1, partly as an austerity measure but also in a bid to improve public morality. Prior to this, pubs had pretty much unregulated opening hours and remained open up until 11pm or even later. Early closing was supported by the temperance movement which believed it would lead to a total prohibition of alcohol. (Wartime prohibition in the United States led to the 1920-32 Prohibition era in that country.) One of the most perverse outcomes of this move was the infamous “six o’clock swill”. In the short time between the end of the working day (for many just one hour) and closing time, men (for it was mostly men who frequented pubs) would squeeze in as many drinks as they could manage. As six o’clock approached, they would line up several beers in the remaining minutes before the cry of “Time, gentlemen … please!” Six o’clock closing ended in Victoria 60 years ago, on Tuesday, 1 February 1966. Trading hours were extended to 10pm, although it would be some years before more liberal licensing was extended to bars and restaurants. The move was widely celebrated … with a drink, of course. The Mountain District Free Press published photos of beer halls in the district boldly carrying on into the evening in the days after the prohibition was lifted, with an emphasis of their “family friendly” atmosphere. Patrons of the Mount Dandenong Hotel in Olinda, pictured here on the first Saturday night following the introduction of the new rules, appeared very supportive. (Image: Free Press 9.2.1966) Built environment Fading Beauty Beauty Bend in Ferny Creek was one of the best known and most photographed spots in the Dandenongs for many years. A major road realignment in the early 1970s created an island of creek gully and towering mountain ash, bisecting the creek in the creation of a sweeping bend. The bus stop remained isolated on the old road and is still in use today. This humble, oft graffitied shelter dates from around the 1950s and a towering power pole have somewhat lessened the “beauty” of the locale, but there are still radiant tree ferns and the sound of tinkling water. (Photo: c.1974, John Schauble) 6