Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[roverdriver]

Part 1 of this story can be found here- https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=179665#179665

Part 2 Colbinabin and Further North. And Conclusion



Early next morning, which was cool but not too cold, once the car was loaded again, we drove down Kyabram’s main street to photograph a nicely painted wall, along with a decorated Florist Shop window. Next there was a mural with paintings and photographs, portraying some history and significant events of the town.







One photograph in particular caught my eye. The royal visit of 1954 followed on from the young Queen’s coronation and all of the publicity surrounding it. Consequently there was great interest, so much so that almost every school child was transported to a location where Her Majesty could be seen. In this photograph, school children are aboard a semi trailer truck to get to the venue. Travel in this way was not unknown in those times- a truck would often be employed to, for example, take a football team to the next town. One could only hope that the children on the lower deck were selected for their lack of height! (Incidentally, in my case, we went from Red Hill to Packenham in a semi-trailer (articulated) Passenger bus.)



We then set off on the next leg of our journey. We are now traversing a flat plain that takes up quite a sizeable chunk of the state. Water resources for the area are controlled by the Goulburn-Murray water region, and it looks after an area of about 450 kilometers East-West and 200 k’s North South to the Murray River. Because of the nature of the land, a major irrigation scheme was initiated in the 1930's with hundreds of miles of irrigation channel to bring water to farms. This was of great benefit to agriculture throughout the region, and while grain growing is still part of the mix, such things as orchards and crops like tomatoes have also thrived. In recent times, vineyards have flourished.



Since the United Nations declare that water was a commodity to be bought and sold, changes have occurred in the availability and supply of water, and in my opinion, not for the general good. There are now quite a few abandoned channels. The full ones show how they used to be, but even so, there are some new ones being constructed.





We had a few detours on the way to Picola, but eventually arrived. This was the end of the railway line that came from Nathalia and was opened in 1896. It closed in 1986. The railway used to cart livestock and grain mainly but also vast quantities of timber from the nearby Barmah forest. One of the sawmillers, James Nichols built a four mile tramway from the forest to Picola The River Red Gums of the forest has good rot and termite resistance so was in big demand for construction as well as railway sleepers. An interesting product of the swampy area was the provision of leeches for medical purposes.







The grain silo was built in 1942, as were so many in the region, to speed transport by handling in bulk rather than by sacks during the war The grain ‘shed’ came some time later. The silo was closed by the Grain Corporation in 2003, but is now owned privately.

Below is the road approach to the crossing of a canal- the water is piped under the road. The picture after that shows a paddock being irrigated and another that is not.





The flat land continues with many irrigation channels both full and abandoned. There were haystacks, of large square bales, in many places. Some of this hay is sold to farmers all over the state, but some, too is exported to Vietnam, which I would not have believed if I hadn’t met a Vietnamese buyer scouting to buy hay near here a few years ago.





This is as far North as we planned to go. From here we headed in an Easterly direction until reaching the Benalla Tocumwal Road, and turned more or less to the South. It was very good motoring with few cars about, although the Benalla section of road had more than that from Picola. Slowing down for the township of Katamatite, we spied something to cause me to brake and stop at a suitable parking spot. The public toilet was covered in paintings of birds.
The cleaner was there and told us that he believed that artist was from Tatura, only about 40 miles away.





The mention of Tatura brings to mind an old friend of mine, Bill Groves, now long deceased. He was born in that town and grew up there. He had many a tale to tell. One was when hw gave me a Rushmore headlight. It was gas powered but the gas generator was lost years ago. In the early 1920's Bill managed to acquire a Twin City tractor, He used to work as a contractor for various farmers in the area. In order to be able to work longer hours, he fitted the Rushmore to the tractor. Now in that flat country, sometimes paddocks were a couple of miles long. He heard about people seeing a strange light sweeping across the night sky. The light, he was told, was seen about every hour through the early part of the night. Bill let the mysterious light remain a mystery. It was created by his tractor, plowing at about 4 miles an hour and turning at each end of the paddock.



The next stopping place was Benalla, a town renowned for the street art that covered many buildings, but we had seen them a couple of years ago, so topped off the fuel tank and pressed on, hoping to get lunch at the Tatong Hotel. Well we found the pub all right, but they were not open on Mondays! We did however see the water tank, a large billboard featuring Ford cars and the fire station (CFA is short for Country Fire Authority).









The district has seen several changes of primary production. The first land of 33,000 acres was suitable for 16,500 sheep. It was broken up after 1874 into smaller lots. With the smaller properties, dairying was more profitable s so many supplied the nearby butter factory. Later on tobacco growing was tried. Plenty of timber was available so a branch line was built to take the firewood from here to Melbourne for the power station but after 1928 brown coal from the Latrobe Valley became a better fuel. Unlike the flat country, here we were on the start of the hills that stretch from here to the Western boarder

The CFA building depicts modern fire fighters extinguishing the campfire of the famous late eighteen hundred’s fugitive Ned Kelly.







We left Tatong, regained the main highway- the Midland, and pressed on. The next nearest township was a little off our main route- Mansfield, but as time was getting on we decided that if we didn’t change our plans, we wouldn’t have a cooked meal. As it turned out, we had a delicious lunch. We stopped at the railway station because I had a memory of the district trying to form a tourist railway, The Stations is intact and a couple of carriages and a guards van are there, but alas no further rails and the vehicles are turned over to the Historic Society for displays.



Back we went to the Midland Highway and on to Yea. By now we were becoming re-acclimatised to the hilly nature of the road. It is just 50 miles from Mansfield to Yea, so we were there in about an hour. We booked into our Caravan Park cabin. Had a drive around the town and fuelled up ready for the morning. On a stroll through the grounds we were alerted to the loud cries of cockatoos. Fortunately Noreen had her telephoto lens on the camera to capture images. They roosted in trees but were quiet afterwards. I did my usual checks of the car and we settled in for the night.





Next morning, we were up bright and early ready for the drive home, so packed up and set off. As we got closer to Healesville we were most definitely into hill country. Such a contrast with the large flat lands we had been through less than 24 hours ago. From the small town of Toolangi the road consists of many sharp corners as it winds its way through the hills. It is only 41 miles, but we took our time to enjoy the forest and the road so it took us an hour and a half, including stops, to complete that part of the journey. Roadside trees and the forests are here so much taller and thicker than those in the flatter country of less rainfall.







We stopped for refreshments in Healsville the set off towards Pakenham. Here the hills were less steep that the last section, but the road still wound around quite a bit. I was fairly familiar with this part of the journey, having driven it several time before. We hadn’t been going for too long when we encountered a timber jinker, Obviously the driver knew the road , so he accelerated where it was safe and braked when needed for the sharper corners. I decided to let him be my pilot, so settle in with a suitable gap between us, and followed him. A lead vehicle like that can make for a more relaxed journey, so I took advantage. At Woori Yallok I though he would be turning off towards a saw mill nearby, and the road that I wanted was straight ahead at cross roads. I was delighted that the timber truck went straight across, so we were ‘piloted’ by him through to Pakenham.



From Pakenham the road straightened out so we enjoyed the highway driving through to home in Leongatha arriving there shortly before midday. We had planned the trip for the weekend prior, but as the forecast predicted rain over our intended route, we postponed to the 23rd. When we got home, we heard that there had been cases of the dreaded Chinese lurgi in Melbourne, and consequently the whole state was to be locked down for 7 days from that evening- so we got home at the right time.



We found the whole excursion very interesting and we hope that you find the telling of it good too. The Rover behaved, as one would expect, without any trouble. Speed where applicable were never over 70.mph on the speedo- (most of Victoria has a speed limit of 100 K’s but some highways are 110.), but of course our stops used quite a lot of time. Fuel consumption was about 23 mpg. Fuel prices varied from $1.34.9 to the dearest at $1.45.9. We covered 629 miles in those three days.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Peter_L]

Hi Dane. Once again, many thanks for an insight into your country and sharing your travels.. The detail about water and how it is controlled is "thought provoking"....

[Keith D]

Another most enjoyable read, Dane. This sort of journey takes on a whole new meaning when achieved in our classic car, especially when the run is trouble free. Congratulations

Keith
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1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[peter scott]

Many thanks for posting. Lot more super murals. I particularly like your first photo of the Rover in the early dawn light with a hint dew on things. I could just hear those cockatoos.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Brent29]

A truly wonderful place, from nice arts to wonderful nature.

[roverdriver]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.
In part, because of the problems with Photo hosting site (you know who I mean!) I have started on a task of downloading and printing off all of my stories that I have posted onto the site. While just doing it for my own records, if someone is looking to find a particular story, I should be able to provide you with a link.

It is quite time consuming to do, but at least then I can keep a record of the trips. I can't just print off each story, as I want to make minor adjustments such as spelling errors, or add or remove particular images, or add some extra commentary.
So far I have managed 15 stories up to 2016, and when printed they will take up about 175 A4 pages. I hope that I am over the half way mark, so back to work!!.
_________________
Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[Rick]

Excellent read once again Dane, the murals really brighten up what would otherwise be fairly mundane structures.

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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