CHANGE HERE FOR OUTTRIM - THE TOWN AND THE BOOK
(by Barry Sykes, April 13th 1999) (M. Fullard)
(Margaret would like to thank Barry for his help in editing this report for our Bulletin.)

      Apart from staking a claim, there was little that could be done about it until a railway was available to convey the coal to markets.
     In 1884, Parliament passed an Act enabling lines of railway to be built in all directions from Melbourne (for this reason it became known as the "Octopus Act"). One of the lines was to Korumburra - initially it began as a line to Whitelaw's Track, because at that time Korumburra didn't exist, then it was extended to Koorooman (Leongatha) and, finally, when con- tracts were let, Port Albert became the destination. Like the Sale line before it, the work was broken into 3 separate contracts, Dandenong-Korumburra Korumburra-Foster and Foster-Port Albert.
    The building of the Dandenong-Korumburra section was slow due to the Government's failure to drain the Koo-Wee-Rup swamp prior to the railway being built, so that those working on the line had to work in water sometimes up to their necks. As a result, the Foster-Korumburra section was completed and trains were running on it some months before the Dandenong-Korumburra section. Indeed reporter who travelled on one of the first trains described the Dalmore station as being like Venice because it could only be reached by boat. Of course, the opening of this railway connection was crucial to the operation of the mines at Korumburra, as mines and railways always go hand in hand.
      Barry then looked at some ways in which the Latrobe Valley has connections with the mines around Korumburra. Firstly, the Gt. Morwell Coal Coy. built a railway to connect its mine to the Sale line, at Herne's Oak, at a cost of £3,500 which the Victorian Railways undertook to reimburse once a satisfactory level of traffic ran on it. They failed to do this and so it was one of the factors that forced the company into liquidation. As a result of this experience, the Government decided that it would fund the various coal lines built around Korumburra itself.
    As well, the Gt. Morwell Coal Coy, decided to install a briquetting plant, which was locally built by Otis (the firm that today specializes in lifts). Likewise, when it faced the problem of how to convey its coal to the railhead a mile away and across a very steep gully, the Jumbunna company commissioned Otis to build a sort of flying fox equipped with buckets. In both cases the Otis machinery did not perform very satisfactorily.
    Then, further down the line, at Outtrim, two of the mines had constructed lineside chutes to load their coal. This was done by the train stopping under them and the chutes' contents being released into the trucks below which then went on their way. Victorian Railways' method of charging for this was to bill the mine owners for the length of time the train was stationary. This same billing method was used for sleeper cutters loading sleepers along the Walhalla line (excepting that apparently they often had on hand some liquid refreshment for the guard so that he would not be quite so particular about recording the time they took). Barry then went on to point out as a matter of interest that although much is heard of the Walhalla narrow-gauge railway, few people know that along with the 4 lines built - (Colac-Crowe's, Ferntree Gully-Gembrook, Wangaratta-Whitfield and Moe-Walhalla) another was proposed and surveyed from Traralgon to Carrajung via Callignee but obviously not proceeded with.

In the process of the local Council debating the fate of a narrow concrete bridge over the Powlett River at Outtrim in the last few months, it has now emerged that the bridge was one that Sir John Monash designed during his cadetship as an Engineer.

Before returning to the mines, we were reminded that in all cases the selectors went before the mines. Barry pointed out that it was interesting that many of those who took up selections in the Foster area in the 1870's came from the Ballarat area; so many, that the Member representing Ballarat in Parliament involved himself in South Gippsland issues because of the high proportion of his former constituents living there.

Ten years later this same pattern emerged with those coming into the Korumburra area. It is thought that the reason for this is that it coincides with the transition from alluvial to deep lead mining which was taking place around Ballarat about that time. Since deep lead (quartz) mining could only be undertaken by the bigger companies, this displaced many of those prospecting who then turned to a life on the land and to whom the cheap South Gippsland land prices beckoned.

On the mining front, the Coal Creek company started its operations in 1889. In 1890, coal was found at Jumbunna, 4 miles to the south, and, finally, in 1892 the Outtrim seams were discovered.

Naturally, towns sprung up at Jumbunna and Outtrim in the wake of these discoveries. From the 1901 census, we learn that Jumbunna had 155 houses, in which 729 persons lived, and Outtrim had 323 houses in which 1,646 persons lived They could be described as twin towns.

At its peak in 1902, the Outtrim mine employed around 600 men. Sadly, this mine was also the site of one of the longest strikes in Australia, only being eclipsed in the last couple of years, curiously, by another coal miners' strike. Since all the mines in the area were privately owned and those controlling them were not big on industrial relations, strikes for a range of grievances were frequent. Lasting 72 weeks, in 1903-4, the Outtrim strike was a result of the animosity that had been growing between mine owners and the Union movement, which up to then had been successful in getting better conditions for their members. Wet pay for miners who had to work continuously in water is one example.

.As a result of this and the Government Enquiry of 1906 into it, in 1908 the decision was made to begin work on the Wonthaggi field. The resulting mines were run by the Government until, in 1912, their administration was passed to the Victorian Railways with which they remained until their closure in 1968.

Barry then reminded us that at no time in its history has Victoria been self-sufficient in black coal because all Victorian coal is only steaming coal which is unsuitable for such uses as town gas production (for which N.S.W. coal has to be used). For example, in 1902 at the peak of production of the private mines in Victoria, some 600,000 tons of N.S.W. coal was imported.

The size of the coal seams in Victorian mines was another factor. It was said, as an approximation, that a N.S.W. mine could produce in a shift what a Victorian mine produced in a week, due to thicker seams that enabled the use of coal cutting machines and more efficient methods. In summary, it could be said that the Victorian Government used its mines more as insurance against times when supplies of N.S.W. coal were disrupted than as a mainstay.

Barry concluded his talk with a lively description of how he had produced the book "Change here for Outtrim" for which he was given only 3 months to do it, by the Outtrim people.

In reply to a question regarding the forthcoming excursion of the area, Barry described what would be covered, and explained that much of it would be through private property, also that the (Jumbunna) Hall Committee makes all of the arrangements with the owners, for us.

President, Mr. Jim Hood, thanked Barry and presented him with a commemorative glass in appreciation.