Activities Around The Turn of the 20th Century – Part One

It’s another hot day (44C) with strong winds and many bush fires burning throughout the state.  It seems a bit surreal checking my emergency app and listening to the radio messages telling people to evacuate from many places. I’m keeping cool again with the air-con on and following up my post of Old Mebourne with some other images that I created showing life between 1880 and 1920. I found all of these in the eztensive collection of the State Library of VIctoria and edited and coloured them using the AI features in my photgraphy software.

This image shows hikers and packhorses assembling at Derby River, Wilsons Promontory, in 1920, before setting out on a trip to Oberon Bay. In those days, there was no road further south into Tidal River and the only way to get there was by using a narow track around the coast.

This is a photo of the Interior of H.Hearne Pty Ltd, Pork Butcher in 1912. This was a well known shop, famous for its high-quality hams and smallgoods, It operated at 19 Swanston Street and opened in 1879 before closing around 1929. It, was a fixture in the city, specialising in traditionally cured meats and known for its customer service and traditional butcher shop ambiance. 

Camping at Carrum 1907. Carrum was then transforming from a swampy holiday spot into a settled community, retaining its natural character while infrastructure like schools and railways developed, supported by pioneering families. It had a mix of permanent residents and holidaymakers. It had quite a rural feel with horses and cows that still roamed freely. The railway line (opened 1882) was crucial, connecting the area, and by April 1907, the local school had an extension built to handle increased student numbers.

This photo was taken a little later than other images in this post, but I thought it was a good illustration of a craft that is now virtually dead. It shows coopers working at the Carlton Brewery in 1938. The 1930s was a period of significant activity for Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), largely driven by the economic depression and the continuation of traditional practices, such as the use of coopers and the introduction of new products. The use of coopers (barrel makers) was at its peak during this period, with the brewery’s coopers producing nearly 250,000 wooden barrels in the peak year of 1929.

This photo shows yclists standing, or sitting, with their bicycles at Geelong Grammar Scool in1880. Penny-farthings were highly popular in the late 1870s and 1880s, serving as a symbol of the late Victorian era and a status symbol for men, before becoming largely obsolete around 1890. Cycling was a major part of Geelong’s local culture, influencing road development, clothing, and health during that period.

Bathing group – St Kilda in 1920. The 1920s marked a pivotal, revolutionary shift in bathing culture, transitioning from a focus on strict modesty to liberation, fashion, and the popularisation of sunbathing. Women’s swimwear shed heavy, restrictive fabrics in favor of knit wool and cotton jersey, allowing for easier movement in the water. The “one-piece” suit became iconic, often featuring stripes or polka dots and shorter hemlines that showcased legs. Despite the loosening of social rules during the Prohibition era, strict modesty laws were still enforced on some beaches, with “beach censors” or police measuring to ensure suits were not more than six inches above the knee.

A 1905/6 Brown motor car outside the Shields Motor Company. This company was a significant early Melbourne car dealership, known as the sole agent for Brown motor cars in 1906 at 26 a’Beckett Street and later distributing Citroën cars in the 1950s at 6-14 Flinders Street. The 1905 Brown 18/20HP Four-Cylinder Side-Entrance Tourer, was a notable early automobile known for its robust four-cylinder engine, enclosed drive train, and features like a unique pneumatic braking system using the engine itself, offering complete protection for its machinery and showcasing advanced design for its time. These cars often appeared in early motoring events in places like Queensland and were noted for their fine engineering. 

A milk cart on a country road around 1900. Many rural roads at the turn of the 20th Century were not paved and would become boggy in poor weather. Milk reached factories from farms primarily in heavy metal cans, transported by horse-drawn wagons to local train stations or directly to nearby dairy plants. Farmers often delivering daily to avoid spoilage before the widespread introdution of farm refrigeration, though some larger operations used early refrigerated transport for longer distances. The lack of cooling meant factories needed to be close to farms, or farmers had to transport milk quickly,

Photographer at a commemoration ceremony for Burke and Wills in 1925. The Burke and Wills monument in Melbourne was located in Spring Street, where it had been since 1886 after its relocation from the intersection of Collins and Russell streets. The monument remained in Spring Street for almost 90 years until it was moved in 1973. In 1979 it was relocated to the City Square but it is now in storage due to the construction of the Metro Tunnel Project. 

Before the disastrous 1939 fires, many timber mills were located in deep the forests of the Yarra Ranges. Timber was milled on site and carried to transport hubs such as Yarra Junction on these narrow guage timber tramways. Following the fires, the mills were relocated to less vulnerable locations in nearby towns. The old tramways are now a netwok of bushwalking tracks and I have walked over this very route more than once on hiking trips around the little town of Powelltown.

Puffing Billy at Selby Station in 1923. In the 1920s, This railway line was a functioning commercial narrow-gauge line running through Selby, primarily for local goods and passenger traffic. The line, which opened in 1900, was a working part of Victoria’s railway network intended to develop rural areas. In the 1920s, it transported timber, agricultural produce (like potatoes from Gembrook), and general goods, as well as passengers. Selby station, opened in 1904, served a growing township that attracted many tourists and weekend holiday-makers, with Selby’s population and popularity comparable to Belgrave’s during this decade. The line continued commercial operations until a landslide between Selby and Menzies Creek closed the track in 1953, leading to its formal closure in 1954. It was subsequently preserved and reopened as a heritage railway by the Puffing Billy Preservation Society, operating today as a major tourist attraction

Murray River Paddle Boats in 1880. At that time, the Murray River system was a bustling trade highway dominated by over 170 paddle steamers and barges, transporting goods like wool and supplies, serving tourists, and acting as floating hotels. They primarily used Echuca as a key hub before railways began to curtail their dominance. Famous vessels like the Rothbury, Nile, and Pride of the Murray operated alongside various barges. These steamers featured shallow drafts, paddleboxes, and strong hulls to navigate the river’s challenging conditions to form the backbone of inland commerce. 

Here is a roadway scene of a wagoneer resting at Myrtle Creek on the Black Spur Road in 1880. Then called ‘Blacks’ Spur’ in Victoria’s Yarra Ranges, this road was a crucial government-built coach route to the goldfields. It was famous for its towering Mountain Ash forests, challenging steep sections, and burgeoning tourism. After the Woods Point gold rush waned in the 1870s traffic slowed but timber remained important. Tourism began to flourish in the 1880s. Coaches transported mail and passengers daily via this route to Marysville and Woodspoint. Its name,”Blacks’ Spur”, came from the path used by displaced Aboriginal people heading to the Corranderk mission in Healesville.

This photo of a rural primary school class in 1916 shows just how many students were in a schoool room with a single teacher. When Jill began her teaching career at Warrandyte Primary School in 1968, she had a class of 52 students.

The start of a bicycle race around 1900. In 1900, rural Victoria hosted numerous bicycle road races, which were a popular form of competition during the Australian cycling boom of the late 19th century. Events varied in distance and attracted hundreds of riders from around the country. Cycling had become a major recreational activity and a serious sport by 1900, largely due to the introduction of the “safety” bicycle, which was cheaper, more comfortable, and faster than the earlier Penny Farthing designs. Many smaller towns organised local races.

Gathering for the Hunt – 1906. Fox hunting was historically a significant activity in Heidelberg. Activities were linked to the Melbourne Hunt Club and local pubs like the Old England Hotel. The Melbourne Hunt Club was active, using Heidelberg as a base for its activities.

A woman seated at a sewing machine in 1900. Women used treadle-powered (foot-pedaled) and hand powered sewing machines, often Singer models, for domestic tasks and also for factory work. They were used to create , everything from personal garments to later wartime supplies.Treadle machines later became common, freeing up hands for guiding fabric, though using them was sometimes seen as improper for middle-class women in public.

Threshing grain 1910. In the first decade of the 20th Century, threshing grain was a major farm operation with a  transition from horse-powered to steam-powered machines. A large crew seperated kernels from stalks using roaring threshers, with a steam tractor providing belt power, while crews bundled straw and bagged grain for market, a significant step up from older manual methods. Threshing was often a community effort, with neighbours and hired hands forming a threshing ring, working together from dawn to dusk.

Around 1900, when this photo was taken, Australian teamsters were tough, essential workers hauling goods, ore, and supplies with horse or bullock-drawn wagons across vast distances, often facing long hours, harsh conditions, and dangerous journeys. They moved everything from wool and produce to mining ore and mail, vital for connecting isolated areas to railheads and ports. Their work involved long days (12-18 hours), extreme weather, manual labor, and inherent dangers, with little safety. While horses were common, bullocks were also extensively used, especially for heavy loads, leading to the nickname “bullocky”.The dominance of teamsters waned with the rise of motorised transport in the 1920s and 30s.