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Sturt St, Ballarat, 1900

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ABANDONED TOWNSHIP OF STEIGLITZ, VICTORIA. 1892/95

The township of Steiglitz once boasted a population approaching 2000 people. At the height of the Gold Rush in the 1860s it also had seven quartz crushers, four hotels, a newspaper, a variety of shops and even an undertaker. Today it is home to a mere handful.

The old town is about 85 kms west of Melbourne in the Brisbane ranges. It sits on the Steiglitz Road around 40 kms north of Geelong and 50 kms south of Ballarat.

BRIEF HISTORIC STORY…

The area is named for the von Steiglitz family: Pastoralists who came from Launceston, Tasmania to settle here in the late 1830s. They returned to Ireland in 1853, the year before gold was discovered.

A settlement of prospectors quickly grew as did the town infrastructure. By 1856 there was a Wesleyan chapel, a court house and Anglican, Catholic & Presbyterian schools. The borough council was proclaimed in 1865.

Mining activity gradually declined but was revived around the time of this shot, thanks to the introduction of new technology. Once again the population grew but ultimately the ore proved uneconomic and the town slid back.

The last hotel closed in 1917 and the last mine in 1941.

Steiglitz is today a popular bush-walking and picnic area.

(photo source: David Panther, State Library of Victoria)

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Waterwheel, Garfield Gold Mine, at Chewton

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Believed to be the earliest known photograph of canoe building in Australia, Murray River, 1862.

The process involved removing a large slab of bark from a tree which is then laid on the ground and propped up all around its edge with sticks.

Stones and chunks of wood were placed in the middle of the slab of bark to weigh it down in the middle to give it shape. A fire is then lit under and on top of the bark to heat the sap and to make the bark pliable while the canoe is further manipulated into its desired shape then left to dry.

Photo by George Burnell.

PROVENANCE OF IMAGE:

George Burnell was living in Castlemaine, Victoria. He failed at gold-digging and was working in a hay and corn store in 1861 when he purchased a complete photographic outfit. Burnell’s friend E.W. Cole suggested that they set up a photography business together. Burnell and Cole bought a horse and cart, painted a sign which read 'Cole & Burnell, photographic artists, views & likenesses taken’, and set out to become travelling photographers. Burnell took the photographs, Cole processed them.

By Christmas 1861 they had reached Echuca on the Murray River. Burnell proposed travelling down the river to Adelaide, where he intended to open a photographic studio. They bought a flat-bottomed boat, refitted it, and spent the first four months of 1862 rowing and drifting the length of the river, taking views en route.

On 2 May 1862 they reached Point McLeay with a complete set of sixty albumen silver stereoscopic views of the River Murray (1862) which is held at the Art Galley of South Australia. Source: https://bit.ly/3ElFWoL

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gold mine workings Stawell c1890

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HUMBLE & SONS FOUNDRY: GEELONG, VICTORIA. 1933.

This very atmospheric shot looks into the earthen-floored Humble and Sons Foundry in Geelong. One can almost smell the hot metal and hear the clatter of the overhead belt driving the milling machines and lathes.

Geelong is Victoria’s second largest city, sitting on Corio Bay, about 65 kms south west of Melbourne. The foundry was situated on a constantly growing site on Little Malop Street. I will include in comments below a rare 1887 coloured sketch of the works.

BRIEF HISTORIC STORY…

What was then called the Vulcan Foundry was established in Victoria’s gold-rush years of the mid-19th century by a Scottish immigrant named William Croll. It enjoyed almost immediate success building quartz crushers and shaft-pumps etc. for the goldfields. Some of the castings being up to 5 tons in weight.

In 1866, the business was acquired by another Scot, William Humble in partnership with Ward Nicholson.

The business continued to prosper.

By 1888 Humble & Nicholson had won £60,000 in government contracts, their main source of income and testament to their reputation. The firm built the £5000 bridge at Cressy, the hydraulic crane at Echuca and boilers, tanks and pumps for public authorities. They also had extensive work in the agricultural industry.

The company made the Ferrier wool press and began building reaping and binding machines. They were also one of the first Australian companies to manufacture refrigeration machines, based on the absorption principle.

William Humble & Ward Nicholson continued to the end of 1900 when that partnership was dissolved: From that point on, the firm was known as Humble & Sons.

(photo source: Geelong Heritage Centre)

David Panther

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Moorabool Street Geelong, with the London Hotel one of the buildings on the right, circa 1873-1874.

Photo by Charles Bayliss of the American & Australasian Photographic Co. From the Collection of the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.

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Grand Pacific Hotel and Jetty Lorne, Victoria in the late 1800s.

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Cobb & Co. horse-drawn carriage on its way to Lake Tyers, 1880s, photo by Nicholas Caire.

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In November 1940, a suspension bridge linking San Remo to Phillip Island was opened and changed the pace of island life forever.

Rough weather and strong tidal currents took their toll on the bridge and increased traffic after the Second World War led to the need for a wider and stronger structure.

The new 640m long concrete bridge was officially opened in November 1969, slightly to the east of the old bridge and at the narrowest possible crossing point.

~information from my Phillip island - Destination Phillip Island.

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The Geelong Flier is about to leave Flinders St and take its maiden journey 1926

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Station Street, Werribee, c. 1911. When Werribee was country town.

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Rip Curl's first surf shop in the old Torquay Bakery at 5 Boston Road, Torquay, Victoria

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H.T.Roberts, Butcher with carcasses hanging outside the shop. There is a horse and cart in front of the shop. There is a grinding works on the left. There are also women and children standing in front of the store, one woman is wearing a dress with a bustle. 1870

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A view of Sebastopol from the United Red Jacket gold mine, 1866. The shaft was located just south of the Victoria Street & Beverin Street intersection, where there is now a Coles supermarket car park.

Photo by Solomon & Bardwell, part of the SLV's Collection. http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/283184

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"People Playing on the Tennis Courts at 'Windarra', Ballarat, Victoria,

The building is the one standing at the Aquinas Campus, Australian Catholic University, 1200 Mair Street Ballarat. That building was originally named "Carn Brae" and was built by Cornish miner Cyrus Retallac in 1881.

Retallac died in March 1899 but the family appeared to have continued living there. The Queen's Church of England Girls' Grammar School acquired the property in 1919 and renamed the mansion "Manifold House". The Catholic Church later acquired the property.

Windarra was at 1102 Mair Street and would have been neighbours to Carn Brae. The view is from Windarra looking to its neighbour Carn Brae. Windarra is now a car park

Photographer unknown, part of the Museums Victoria Collection. https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/766897

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The site of the future Sovereign Hill circa 1969.

The poppet head was erected with the advice of elderly mining engineer, Albert Roy, and located over the entrance of the North Normanby mine shaft. While the poppet head was recreated, the mullock heap beside it is original.