An Acrostic History of Garfield

This is an eclectic look at some themes from Garfield's  history and the first letter of each theme spells a seasonal greeting! I did this one for the Garfield township newsletter, The Spectator, in December 2017.  I did a similar one for the Koo Wee Rup township newsletter, The Blackfish, in December 2016. You can read the Koo Wee Rup one, here.

M is for Movies, shown at the Picture Theatre. The Garfield Picture Theatre opened with a Grand Ball on Monday, December 22, 1924. Apart from the Picture Theatre locals could also view movies at the Wattle Theatre at Koo Wee Rup and King’s Picture Theatre at Pakenham, which both opened in 1927. Harrington’s Electra Pictures had been shown at the Garfield Hall and films were shown at Tynong - there is still a bio box or projection room, which is currently inaccessible, at the Hall.  The original Bunyip Hall also showed movies however, when it burnt down in March 1940, the ‘picture plant’ was destroyed. The Garfield Theatre closed in the early 1960s although it did reopen weekends in 1970 and 1971. The Theatre has more recently been extensively renovated and is now a live music venue.

Garfield Picture Theatre, 1920s/1930s

Image: Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society

E is for Education.  The first school in town, the Cannibal Creek State School, opened in 1886. The School was located on the Princes Highway, west of North Garfield Road. The school changed its name to Garfield around May 1887. In 1899, the School building was re-located to Garfield Road at the top of the hill, half way between the Princes Highway and the Railway Station. In 1910, the Garfield School No. 2724 moved to a new building on its present site near the Railway Station. The old building was removed in 1914 to North Garfield where it became State School No.3489.

R is for Religion.  Garfield has had a number of Churches - St Mary’s Church of England or Anglican Church was opened in March 1935 by Archdeacon Weir of Sale. It was dedicated to the memory of the late Mrs Beswick, who had raised funds for the building.  It was demolished in 2010. The Uniting Church began life as the Methodist Church. There was a Methodist congregation in Garfield from the 1910s, but I am not sure if they met in the Hall initially or a purpose-built Church as I don’t have a date for the construction of the church. There was a Presbyterian Church at Iona which opened in 1908 and, also at Iona is St Joseph’s Catholic Church which opened in 1900. The existing brick Catholic church dates from 1940.

R is for Racing. The first race meeting was held on Wednesday, March 12, 1902 at the Recreation Reserve. The Garfield Race Club had fluctuating fortunes - it went quiet over the War Years but had a revival in the 1920s - a Race meeting held in November 1920 had so many horses entered that the last race had to be abandoned or else the horses and patrons would miss the special train back to Melbourne at 5.55pm. In March 1923, a report says that over £400 was spent in remodeling the track. However, in 1933 the Chief Secretary wanted to curtail the number of race meetings in country areas and thus at a meeting held in the July, Garfield had its races reduced from two to zero, and Bunyip, Iona, Cora Lynn Clubs also suffered a similar fate. So, it was all over for Garfield and these other Clubs.

Y is for Youngsters.  The Garfield Baby Health Centre was opened in July 1935 with Mrs J. Patterson as President and Mrs A. Nutting as Secretary. Sister Mitchell was in charge. A new Infant Welfare Centre and Pre-School was constructed on the corner of Main Street and the Fourteen Mile Road in 1952. It was built by E.C Cox & Sons.  In that year, the Clinic cared for 42 babies under two years old and 6 infants over two - with a total of 351 visits for the year. 

The  Infant Welfare Centre and Pre-School that was built in 1952.

Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries, Shire of Pakenham photo.

C is Cars. The first cars appeared in the town in the 1910s and by the 1920s cars were increasing in popularity.  From the 1940s Frank Dean had the garage near the bakers and George Hamm had the garage near the Hotel. Hamm’s garage was taken over by L.J Brenchley in March 1947 and the Brenchley family operated the garage for decades after and were Austin and Morris dealers.

H is for Hall. The Hall was built by Ingebert Gunnulson and opened December 1904. The usual range of events were held in the Hall - dances, dinners, use as a polling booth, concerts, wedding receptions etc. Then on Thursday, April 15 in 1937 the Hall was destroyed by fire. It had apparently started at 1.30am in the supper room and everything was destroyed. It was rebuilt and was re-opened possibly as early as September 22 the same year. The Hall was destroyed by fire, once again, in February 1984.

R is for Reading Newspapers (the way we used to get news before the Internet). This area is fortunate that its history has been recorded in local newspapers since the 1860s. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal was published from 1865 and covered everywhere from Dandenong to Warragul to Phillip Island to Mornington.   Garfield and Bunyip have had coverage in the West Gippsland Gazette which started in 1898 and became the Warragul Gazette in 1931. The same publisher also had the Bunyip Free Press from around 1909 to 1915. The Bunyip & Garfield Express was published from 1883 to 1979. The area is now covered by the Pakenham Gazette, which started in 1909 and is still owned by the Thomas family.

I is for Iona Hotel.   The Iona Hotel at Garfield was originally opened around April 1904. A newspaper report of April 13, 1904 said the hotel is of very pretty design, presenting a thoroughly up to date appearance. The hotel had twenty-nine rooms including the bar room, parlours, commercial room, dining rooms, drawing rooms, billiard room with a full sized Alcock's table and fixtures and sixteen bedrooms. The building was constructed of weatherboard and had gas lighting and an 'excellent' septic sewerage system. There was also substantial stabling. Sadly, the hotel was destroyed by fire on April 23, 1914. The existing Hotel was erected the next year and a report in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal from May 27, 1915 stated that no expense had been spared by the proprietors to make it all respects one of the best equipped hotels in the colony.

S is for Swamp.  Garfield owes some of its early prosperity to the drainage of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp as it became a service town for the Swamp residents.  The Swamp originally covered about 40,000 hectares. The Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department, William Thwaites, surveyed the Swamp in 1887 and his report recommended the construction of the Bunyip Main Drain from where it entered the Swamp, in the north, to Western Port Bay and several smaller side drains.  Work started in 1889 and despite strikes, floods and bad weather by March 1893, the private contractors had constructed the 16 miles of the drain from the Bay to the south of Bunyip and the Public Works Department considered the Swamp was now dry enough for settlement. At one time over 500 men were employed, and all the work was done by hand, using axes, shovels, mattocks and wheel barrows. By 1904, over 2,000 people including 1,400 children lived on the Swamp. Many more drains have been added over the years.

T is for Timber Industry.  The Gippsland Railway line to Sale was opened in stages between 1877 and 1879. Sidings developed along the line which allowed timber to be despatched and so the local timber industry boomed.  In Garfield, Jefferson’s Saw Mill and brick works and the Cannibal Creek Saw Mill Company were established. Joseph Jefferson established a saw mill in 1877 on the site of what was to become his clay pit, off Railway Avenue. He sent this timber out via Bunyip Station until the Cannibal Creek Siding was built in 1885 to accommodate the timber tramline which run for about 8 kilometres, to the Two-Mile Creek. The Garfield North road basically follows this tramway.  As well as producing timber products Jefferson also mined the sand on his property to be used in the building industry in Melbourne and when he discovered clay on his property he began making clay bricks. The 1880s was a boom time for Victoria and Jefferson could produce over 50,000 bricks per week and fire 75,000 at a time in his kiln. The Depression of the 1890s saw a decline in the building industry which flowed onto his business and the brickworks eventually shut down in 1929.

M is for Medical Matters - the Garfield Hospital. The push to get a hospital in Garfield started about 1930 when the community raised around £340, but due to the Depression the momentum for Hospital slowed. Money continued to be raised, new Committees were formed in 1940 and again in 1945 but all the development was stalled due to the Second World War. After the War there was still no government finance available. Various submissions were made in the 1950s to the Hospital Commission to get the Garfield Hospital established but to no avail. In the end the Garfield money (over £2,600) was added to the money left to the community by local chemist, Mr Emile Shelley, and it went towards the Shelley Memorial Hospital at Bunyip which opened in March 1966 and closed in May 1991. The building is now part of Hillview Hostel.

A is for Agriculture. Garfield is surrounded by farms - apple orchards were planted north of the town in the hills area from around 1890.  South of the town was the Koo Wee Rup Swamp which by the 1920s, was producing one quarter of Victorian potatoes and was also a major producer of dairy products. Today, over 90% of all Australian asparagus is produced on the Koo‐Wee‐Rup Swamp and many other food items are grown including broccolini, strawberries, cabbage, leeks, celery and lettuces.

S is for Shops and Businesses. According to the 1903 Electoral Roll the following businesses were in Garfield - there were three bakers, two blacksmiths and two butchers. There was a Draper and three men with the occupation of storekeepers. George and Thomas Ellis were Produce Merchants and Joseph Rutledge was a saddler.  Garfield had one builder and three carpenters - Ingebert Gunnulson, Samuel Harvey and Phillip Leeson. Joseph Jefferson is listed as a brick maker and John Jefferson as a wood merchant. To satisfy the grooming needs of Garfield, Percy Malcolm was a hairdresser and John Daly, the School Teacher, took care of educational needs. There was also one woman with an occupation listed – Florence Mason was the Post Mistress.