Alison Homestead NEWSLETTER...NOVEMER 2019 NEWSLETTER 26 PAGE 4 EDITORIAL Hello and welcome to a new year of news and happenings at Alison Homestead. As custodians of the property

FEBRUARY 2020 NEWSLETTER 27 P A G E 1

Alison Homestead

NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2019 NEWSLETTER 26 P A G E 2

Contents COVER STORY ........................................................................................... 3

EDITORIAL ............................................................................................... 4

PRESIDENT’S REPORT ............................................................................... 5

HISTORICAL NOTES .................................................................................. 6

GARDENS ................................................................................................. 9

DROUGHT APPEAL ? ................................................................................ 10

VOLUNTEER IN PROFILE ............................................................................ 12

ITEMS of INTEREST .................................................................................. 15

RECOMENDED READING ........................................................................ 14

DID YOU KNOW ...................................................................................... 15

DID YOU KNOW 2 .................................................................................... 16

WHAT’S BEHIND A NAME ........................................................................ 17

PIONEERS LUNCH ................................................................................... 18

RECIPE ................................................................................................... 19

VISITOR’S BOOK………………………………………………………………………………………. 20

QUOTE:................................................................................................... 22

President Greg Denning

V. President Phillip Morley

Secretary Margaret Boldt

Treasurer Gail Belford

Alison Homestead Museum 1 Cape Road, WYONG 2259

PO Box 241 Wyong 2259

Telephone: (02) 4552 1886

Email: [email protected]

ABN: 76 012 347 584


COVER STORY

The last newsletter included a photo of an almost century-old boat that had been be-

queathed to the Historical Society.

It was built in the 1920’s by Paul Duncan Snr at The Entrance. He built many boats for

fishermen and the boatshed in the area.

The boat featured in the photo is the ‘Lady Dell’ and it was designed for rowing and

sailing as motor boats didn’t make a presence in Australia till the 1950’s. It was built

for Darcy Denniss and his wife Del. It was moored at South Tacoma and Darcy rowed

the boat everywhere. He and Dell rowed across the Wyong River to go to bowls with

his brother, Paddy, and sister-in-law Ruby…and did so rain, hail or shine.

When Dell passed away the boat left to their son Roy Denniss whose uncle, South Ta-

coma fisherman, Ken Clouten donated it to Alison Homestead.

POST STORM RAIN DEMISE

This photo belies the size of this towering gum

which fell down at the Homestead during the

week following the recent heavy rains. Fortunate-

ly no-one was around when it crashed to the

ground.


EDITORIAL

Hello and welcome to a new year of news and happenings at Alison Homestead.

As custodians of the property the volunteers will endeavour to uphold the aims of

the Historical Society-namely- through its collection practices, to record the history

and heritage of our district and its peoples, and through preservation, research and

exhibition of the items within its collection, provide a valuable historical resource

for the entertainment and education of community members and visitors.

It was hoped we could give you all a positive update on the proposed new research,

library, administration and archive storage building. Unfortunately, and sadly, and

frustratingly, there has been no advance with our DA and the silence from Council

has been deafening.

For nature watchers there is a great deal to look forward to during February and

March. The Council’s Nature Watch Diary has an interesting list of fauna and flora

activity during this period.

March is a time when Biting March Flies can be a nuisance. Leaf-curling spiders and

Orb spiders are active, the Double-banded Plover comes to our coastal reefs and

beaches from New Zealand, and Sweet Wattle Acacia and Geebung are in flower. In

April you can expect to see Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Tasmanian Silvereyes on

migration from southern Australia, koalas will be active at night, bellowing, fighting

and scent marking till September (this is a good opportunity to identify koala habi-

tats and pass the information on to wildlife services that are keen to know follow-

ing the devastating bushfires), tiger quoll mating takes place with the males becom-

ing more active and the juvenile males are thrown out of territories.

ON THE DOWNSIDE: Pretty though it is, the invasive weed, Formosan Lily begins

flowering, and berries begin ripening on Privet and Camphor trees. No permission

is required to rid your gardens of these environmental pests.


PRESIDENT’S REPORT

I am a member of the Central Coast British Car Club and the Club had a week-end

away to Bateman’s Bay to help people in the bushfire-ravaged area. One of our

members suggested the Club give a donation to the local bushfire appeal as we had

some extra funds in our kitty. As such my club was able to give the Bateman’s Bay

CWA a donation of five hundred dollars.

I got the Wyong District Museum and Historical Society committee together and they

agreed unanimously that it was a wonderful gesture and would match the car club’s

donation with a five hundred dollars donation as well.

We had a visit from the RSPCA recently concerned that one of the sheep in our front

paddock were in need of shearing.

That particular sheep is a dorper ...a breed that sheds its own fleece and should not

need shearing. The other sheep have their fleeces intact as they are part of the expe-

riences on offer here when school groups visit. A number of primary school-aged

children have never seen a sheep in real life and most have never seen one being

shorn. The chap from the RSPCA was happy with this explanation. For further infor-

mation you can google dorper sheep on the internet

ON a positive note, the government has offered us a grant to provide a free enter-

tainment event for folk in our region who were affected by the devastating bushfires.

Exactly what form this event will take is yet to be determined as the grant has only

just been offered to the Society.

Regards

Greg Dening….Society President.

The Central Coast

Brithish Car Club

with

Bateman’s Bay CWA ladies


HISTORICAL NOTES

One of the most popular venues in the Wyong district must surely be the old building

located across the road from the Homestead. It has been lovingly restored and is

home to several well-patronised and varied businesses.

Being so much part and parcel of the history of this district it was good to hear its sto-

ry, and more about the former milk industry, at the Pioneers’ annual luncheon late last

year.

Here is a synopsis of what the guest speaker, Mr Forsyth, shared with the audience.

The Wyong Co-operative Dairy Society was formed in September 1906. The company

had an authorised shareholding of five hundred, one pound shares with a minimum

shareholding of ten shares per member. Only members were allowed to supply cream.

The first general meeting in August 1907 saw the appointment of a six directors and

the first manager. The initial board comprised H Davey, W.J. Chapman, G. Goldsmith, T.

Sleeman, M.J. Woodbury, H.G. Ralston, F.E. Ponton…and Manager F.R. Webb.

425 Gallons (1608 litres) were received during the first two weeks which produced

1889 pounds (852.75 kilograms) of butter.

The factory was opened in November 1907 but unfortunately was destroyed by fire in

1921. It was rebuilt and reopened the same year.

In 1926 the new factory was able to process both milk and cream. At this time all di-

rect supply of milk was through the Co-op and an agreement was entered into with

the Camden Vale Milk Co. This particular co-op later produced the gold top bottled

special pasteurised milk which sold for a premium price.


HISTORICAL NOTES (CONTINUED)

In 1932 the NSW Milk Board was formed “to provide for the regulation of the supply

and distribution of milk for consumption in the Sydney metropolitan area” and over-

time other areas were established in NSW. In subsequent years several milk zones

including the Erina milk zone which was proclaimed in 1945. The population of the

Erina region at the time was around 62 000 people.

By 1970 the NSW milk zone covered just about every part of the state (except Bro-

ken Hill). All farms, depots, milk vendors and shop vendors had to be registered with

the Milk Board.

For those of you interested in statistics in 1932/33 the farm gate price for milk was

11 pence a gallon (9 cents). In 1973/74 the price was 17.28 cents per litre ( or 78.4

cents per gallon).

fter Erina had been proclaimed all milk from Wyong had to be pasteurised. This re-

quired milk to be heated to 167-degrees Farenheit for 15 seconds and then cooled

immediately to less than 40-degrees. This posed problems in small country towns

where raw milk, ex the farm, was sold direct to consumers. The sorts of things that

frustrated smaller town milk farmers included the cost of refrigerated vats to hold

two days milk production, the availability of 3-phase power, access roads to the dair-

ies, bridges required on access roads and the increased value of their land for other

purposes. As a result a number of suppliers (more than half) left the industry.

(Back to Wyong). When bottling here commenced in March 1953, the Wyong Co-op

opted to use square one-pint bottles. No other processor was known to use this

shaped bottle. However, Wyong ‘conformed’ in 1963 and changed to round bottles.

(Back to the Milk Board). In 1955 it introduced the individual quota scheme to over-

come problems associated with the annual short production during winter months).

There was a shortfall of supply at Wyong which brought about the need for ration-

ing. Quotas were based on winter production of each farm and were adjusted annu-

ally. Farms that had quotas reduced by the system had the right to appeal to the

Board.

In 1972 Wyong Co-op merged with the Newcastle-based Amalgamated Dairies which

led to the formation of Wyong Amalgamated Pty Ltd bringing an end to the Co-op

after 66 years. The new company continued to operate factories at Wyong and New-

castle. In 1976 United Dairies purchased Wyong Amalgamated for cash and/or

shares. This meant farm milk could be transported direct to Wyong.


Following this takeover, even though United Dairies was an unlisted public com-

pany, more than 90% of the shareholding was owned by Dairy Farmers. In 1974

the government passed legislation to replace imperial measurement with metric

and the industry, accordingly, was forced to make changes to package sizes, and

following national approval, the industry introduced 300ml and 600ml containers

instead of the true metric , volumes of 250ml and 500ml. At the same time, how-

ever, the industry was prepared to produce 1- litre, 1.5 litre and 2- litre containers

which are in use today.

This meant the one pint glass bottle had to be removed from circulation and re-

placed by a 600ml glass bottle, which was done at considerable cost to proces-

sors.

Wyong decided it would not continue with glass containers and introduced a

600ml sachet (nicknamed the pillow case and jug). However, it was not popular

with consumers.

In 1993 National Foods Ltd, a public listed company, purchased (for cash) United

Dairies and all its subsidiaries. Immediately after the sale it sold the Wyong (and

Kempsey) operations to Dairy Farmers. Wyong closed in 1994.

In mid 1998 deregulation, post farm gate, commenced which opened the door to

the chain stores and supermarkets. This meant there was no price control and no

zoning of vendors or factories. Exactly two years later complete deregulation was

introduced which meant the government price control for the producers’ price

was abolished. Although all Australian states have suffered as a result of such de-

regulation, NSW and Queensland have been the most affected.

A one-pint milk bottle in

which milk was distributed

in the Wyong district until

decimal currency lead to a

change in packaging sizes

and round bottles became

the order of the day.


GARDENS

The gardens at the Homestead continue to flourish and there are a good many trees

and shrubs still in flower despite the summer coming to a rapid close.

Delighting our eyes at the moment are zepher lilies, pineapple lilies, naked ladies, spi-

der plants, hibiscus and a variety of native flowering trees.

The Homestead survived the recent flood rains pretty well but we didn’t get off scot-

free. A couple of mature trees including a massive towering gum succumbed to the

drenched ground and toppled over.

Zepher Lillies Naked Ladies Australian Native

Pineapple Lily Spider plant Flowering Gum



DROUGHT APPEAL

In the month leading up to Xmas some of the volunteers at the Homestead put

together a large hamper to raffle for the drought appeal. We were hoping to

raise five hundred dollars but ending up making $813.00.

The winning ticket was drawn by president of the Toukley branch of the CWA June

Howard at our annual Xmas break-up party and the winner was Joan Bean from

Western Sydney.

Toukley CWA had responded to a call for help from the small, badly drought-

affected town of Baradine (pop. 593) which lies west of Coonabarabran in north-

western NSW and the funds were passed on immediately to the Baradine CWA

branch.

The raffle was the success it was thanks largely to the efforts of two of our volun-

teers, KAREN and BERNICE who spent two days of their own time selling tickets at

Wyong Plaza where management went out of its way to accommodate us.

A huge thanks to everyone who supported this fund-raiser.


VOLUNTEER IN PROFILE

PAT AVIS

Pat Avis performs a role at the Homestead that is invaluable in keeping alive our local

history.

She agreed to share an insight into her life and times.

Pat was born in 1947 at the Mater Hospital at Crow’s Nest in Sydney. She lived at

Willoughby and attended St Joseph’s School at North Sydney and later completed a

secretarial course at St Patrick’s Business College in Sydney.

At sixteen she began work as a stenographer with the Crown Solicitors’ Office of the

Attorney-General’s Department. She worked there for six years.

Pat developed a love of Ballroom and Latin American Dancing and participated wide-

ly at a competitive level and is proud of the success she achieved.

Keen to travel she saved her money and with three girlfriends left Sydney in 1970 on

the ship ‘Patris’ for a two year working holiday. Flatting in London she was classified

as an A-1 Secretary. Pat and two of her girlfriends pooled some funds and bought an

old delivery van, modified it, and travelled through Scandinavia and Europe. Follow-

ing these travels Pat spent another nine months working in London before heading

home to Australia.

She soon found a job in Sydney and then met her husband. Peter, whilst holidaying

at the ski resort of Thredbo. They became engaged and were married in 1973. (their

47th wedding anniversary is coming up in July). Peter was in the Air Force and was

posted to Butterworth Air Force Base in Malaysia. During their time there, they lived

on Penang for twenty months and then spent another ten months living on the Ma-

laysian mainland.

Next Page


((Pat Avis story cont.)

Pat tried to get a job but with none available they decided to have a baby (the first of

three). Simon, the eldest, was born in 1974, Kane was born in 1974 and Rebecca

came along in 1981.

When they returned to Australia, Peter spent time at Williamtown Air Force Base be-

fore deciding the time was right to give it away and they bought a business in Cess-

nock. It was a general store that had a sub post office. They are an enterprising cou-

ple and as such applied for, and were granted, a TAB sub office.

As time passed, they applied for a full TAB agency and were given Wyong so they

moved here in 1987. The agency was in Alison Road and even though they worked

seven days a week, Peter started up another business ...computer-related. At first he

operated Wyong Computers from home but later purchased the top level of the

Wyong Railway Arcade where he set up shop.

What about the TAB? They had the agency in Wyong for eighteen years and worked

really hard but it was closed down along with other smaller agencies when the TAB

as a whole was completely restructured in the early 2000’s enabling pubs, clubs and

shopping centres to obtain TAB licences. (You may recall the one at Westfield in Tug-

gerah which only closed last year).

While Peter continued to grow his computer business, Pat found a job with solicitor,

Graeme Peters, and spent the next ten years doing administration and data entry

work. They have continued a more than twenty year love of travelling and visited

and toured many places (some exotic) far and wide around the world. Pat is greatly

involved in baby-sitting her seven grandchildren and volunteers as a researcher and

archivist at Alison Homestead. She started doing her family history around twenty

years ago and says the research skills she learned along the way put her in good

stead for the role she undertakes at the Homestead. We’re very glad she is on board!


RECOMMENDED READING

There can surely be no denying the important role Tuggerah lakes have played in de-

fining the unique destination that is the Central Coast region. The Lakes have, and

continue to play a dominant and integral role in the economic, environmental, scien-

tific and social development of the region so it’s good to come across a C.S.I.R.O. pub-

lication that challenges us to acknowledge how rapid urban development in recent

decades has caused a decline in the health of the lakes, and the concerted efforts un-

derway to restore them to their former glory and manage them effectively. I’m sure a

lot of you will know or be familiar with many of the long-term residents and profes-

sional fishermen who were interviewed about their association with the lakes.

The book is titled “Tuggerah Lakes way back when….” The author is Doctor Anthony

Scott who is an experimental scientist with CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra. He has

had a close association with the lakes since his family bought a holiday cottage at

Toukley in the mid 1970’s.


Did you know the inventor of the Victa Lawnmower was a Wyong district local? Self-

made millionaire Mervyn Victor Richardson was born at Yarramalong in 1893. Despite

not going beyond primary school he became a skilled amateur designer and mechan-

ic. He began making lawn mowers in 1948 and registered the Victa name in 1950. By

1958 his company employed 3000 workers and was building more than 140,000 mow-

ers which were exported to around 30 countries.

In 1997, when the company was owned by the Sunbeam Corporation, the seventh

million Victa lawnmower came off the production line.

Merv Richardson was a versatile engineer. Amongst other things, he also manufac-

tured the red pay phone and a light aircraft.

DID YOUKNOW?

DID YOU


DID YOU KNOW?

The man regarded as Australia’s first and foremost surrealist artist spent his forma-

tive years on the Central Coast.

James Gleeson, art critic, writer, gallery curator and artist, was born in Sydney in

1916 but after his father’s death from influenza in 1919 (during the Spanish ‘flu

pandemic which killed tens of millions of people worldwide) he and his mother

moved to Narara to live with his maternal aunt Jessie. He attended primary and

secondary school in Gosford where he was taught to paint by another aunt, Doris,

who was an amateur artist. The family owned the Gosford Pub, the cold room of

which reportedly served as a temporary morgue in the 1920’s when the need

arose!

A great philanthropist, he and his partner, Frank O’Keefe, bequeathed their estate

to the Art Gallery of NSW. The Gallery’s largest ever monetary donation, it was val-

ued in 2006 at 16million dollars.


WHAT’S BEHIND A NAME? Have you taken the time to sit and enjoy what’s becoming a lovely landmark in

Wyong? I’m talking about the multi-functional and leafy park on the corner of Anzac

Avenue and Margaret Street, diagonally opposite the Art House and across the road

from the RSL Club. Established in 2014 it’s called the Frank Balance Memorial Park.

Had me wondering… who was the person to whom this recreational area was dedicat-

ed?

A plaque in the park, installed by the Central Coast Council, provides an insight. The

Reverend Frank Balance was one of the founding Councillors of Wyong Council. He

was born in Gainsborough, England in 1890 and moved to Sydney when he was twenty

-six.

He relocated to the Newcastle Diocese of the Church of England and was appointed

assistant curator for six months.

In 1928 he was appointed Rector of the Ourimbah Parish and remained there until

1936 when he transferred to the Wyong Parish and stayed there until his untimely

death in 1947 at the age of just fifty-seven.

Reverend Balance was a Councillor on the Erina Shire Council and was instrumental in

having Wyong Shire Council created from the northern part of the Shire. He was Depu-

ty president of the first Wyong Shire Provisional Council and was also the only clergy-

man to have ever been a local shire councillor. He was, as well, a member of a number

of local organisations including the Wyong District Agricultural Association, the Cham-

ber of Commerce and the Masonic Lodge.


EVENT

So successful were the two concerts with entertainer Jake Cassar that we hosted dur-ing Seniors Week last year, we asked him if he would return for more of the same this year and he obliged. Two morning-tea concerts were to be held in February but for folk who didn’t get in early enough I’m sorry to say both concerts were booked out. The first of these two concerts had to be postponed because of the flood rains and will be held in mid-March

A group of ladies from Gosford

Red Hatters added a bright splash Jake Cassar


RECIPE

Buttermilk is a versatile addition to many cake recipes.

This simple, old fashion recipe uses buttermilk and is quick and easy to

make.

BUTTERMILK CAKE:

250g butter

1 cup of sugar

2 cups of plain flour

1 cup of buttermilk

2 rounded teas. mixed spice

½ teas. cinnamon

¼ teas. nutmeg

1 teas. bi-carb soda

1 cup of sultanas

Method:

Heat oven to 180degrees (or 160 fan-forced). Cream together butter and sugar. Add

buttermilk, sifted flour, spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, bi-carb soda and sultanas. Mix

thoroughly and bake in a 20 cm round tin or a loaf tin

for about an hour or until the ‘testing skewer’ comes out clean.

p.s. This recipe comes from a publication from historic Sovereign Hill at Ballarat

called ‘Early Settlers’ Household Lore’. It was brought to my attention by volunteer

Heather Luscombe.

Bob Appetit!


QUOTE

“Volunteering can be an exciting, growing, enjoyable experience. It is truly gratify-

ing to serve a cause, practise one’s ideals, work with people. Solve problems, see

benefits, and know that one has had a hand in them”.

Harriet Naylor

…internationally-recognised for her effective leadership of volunteers.

Until next time...our continued good wishes

Pat Perrett and Wal Billington

The Newsletter Team

VISITOR’S BOOK***

The Summer holiday season brought visitors to the Homestead from around

the world. Lovely comments were left in our visitors’ book by visitors from

Scotland, Portugal, the Cook Islands, Hong Kong, the USA the Isle of Man and

France. It’s good to know we are being acknowledged on the international

Alison Homestead NEWSLETTER...NOVEMER 2019 NEWSLETTER 26 PAGE 4 EDITORIAL Hello and welcome to a new year of news and happenings at Alison Homestead. As custodians of the property

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