HISTORY OF TRARALGON WEST

• "Golden Grove" days at Traralgon West    (Trish Gregory) (Click Here)

• George Lindsay of the Lindsays of "Golden Grove" (Joan Tanner)

• The First Selectors of Traralgon West  (Joan Tanner) (Click Here)
  
  

At our June (1987) meeting, Mrs. Hilda Tilson (nee Lindsay) reminisced about her time spent at the family property, " Golden Grove". This was presumably named after the wattle trees in the area.

The property was sold to the A.P.M., for them to establish their Pilot Mill. The original home had been a bark dwelling. Later, a wattle and daub house was constructed and then a more substantial home (which was "Golden Grove"), built just before the First World War, became the family residence in the area, then known as Traralgon West, some 4 miles from Traralgon.  The photo of "Golden Grove" right, taken circa 1923, is from the Society's archives.

This was a great step forward from the previous buildings. The rooms had 11 ft. ceilings and walls were lined with hard plaster. The ceilings were decorated with a rose moulding from which kerosene lamps hung in both the lounge and dining room. There were cast iron fireplaces in these rooms and also in the first bedroom. In the lounge a large mirror over the mantelpiece reflected the light. Access to a cellar, where milk and butter were kept, was through a trap-door in the L-shaped passage. Here also was stored the home-made hop beer and ginger beer.

     In the early 1930s a new cowshed, with white tiling, was built but this was only in use for a short time before the property was sold to A.P.M. During the 1920s and '30s, the house had no power; they made their own soap and preserved their own produce. Every member of the family helped to work the farm. Cream was brought into the factory in Traralgon 3 times a week, with a horse and spring cart, and letters and newspapers were collected on these trips. Shopping was done once a week and the larder was kept well stocked with flour, sugar, dried and tinned fruits.  Click on the thumbnail photo left, to view harvesting - bringing in the hay at "Golden Grove". (From the Society's Archives)

Church Services and school were attended at Traralgon West. The school had one teacher who taught all pupils up to Grade 8. Mrs. Tilson attended cookery classes at school in Traralgon, once a week, and she cooked for the family at "Golden Grove". However, when she went to train as a nurse, she had to undertake another cookery course, because the certificate she had obtained at school was considered to be out of date having been issued 6 months earlier.

Click on the thumbnail photo left, to view the Lindsay children off to school on horseback.(From the Society's Archives) Mrs. Tilson told us the names of a number of children who attended school while she was there. Most of the families were permanent residents of the district but there were some who were sharefarmers and didn't stay for any length of time. Mrs. Heeps, who as a member of the Trewin family, had also been a resident in the area, added her reminiscences of the families farming around Traralgon West. Her elder brothers had attended the Traralgon West school. Both ladies gave us an enjoyable evening, with first-hand accounts of their lives in the early part of the century. Maps and photos on display completed the picture of the Traralgon West area. 

During the later half of the last century, the area west of Traralgon became available for "closer settlement". At no time did Traralgon West have a very large population, and most of the people who built homes there appear to have selected several blocks, erecting improvements on only one of them.

Starting at the Tyers Road and going west, the first home was owned by Mr. T. G. King and it stood where the oak tree still stands today. Mr. Copeland's home was in Wades Lane, built on the site of what is now the Traralgon Stock Pound. Mr. W. Wade's home was on the corner of Wades Lane and the old Traralgon West Road. Mr. Wade's grandson, Malcolm, was for some years a clerk in the employ of the Traralgon Shire Council. Next, at the top of the hill, the Morris brothers built their house - their sister, Hilda, who had come to act as housekeeper for them, soon married John Lindsay. Midway between Wade's and Morris's, and on the opposite side of the road, was the site of the Traralgon West school, a focal point for the district's social activities. Mr. Charles Cochrane was next to the Morris brothers, his wife being known as "Queen Victoria", her stature and nature being deemed to be similar to that august lady. In more recent years, this property was better known as being owned by the Freeman family.

John Lindsay had the next home, and this property was owned by the Lindsay family until it was purchased by A.P.M. in 1937. Immediately south of the Lindsays lived Mr. W. Edney; he later sold to Mr. George Rae who, in turn, sold to A.P.M. in 1937. All of the above properties, with the exception of those owned by T.G. King, are now owned by A.P.M. On the Old Melbourne Road, just north of where the Latrobe Valley Airfield is now, lived the Wolfenden family. In later years, Mr. Fred Jans and his family lived there; it is now owned by Mr. Thompson.

Just across Airfield Road lived Mr. W.H. Neen, the property better known today as the home of George Coles and family. A daughter of Mr. Coles still lives there. All of the children who lived on these properties would have attended the Traralgon West School. Dairying and all the usual activities associated with that industry were the main sources of income for most of the families who appear to have been very industrious and adept at "making do" . Buldings made of "wattle and daub" were popular as coolrooms, especially effective when ivy was allowed to grow over them. In constructing his milking shed, Mr. Wade used red gum blocks and slabs as flooring material, no doubt very modern at that time, and certainly far more satisfactory than an earthen floor. The slabs were still in perfect condition when they were replaced with cement after the Second World War.

Descendants of the Kings, Morris brothers, Cochranes, Lindsays, and Raes still live in the Traralgon area and have witnessed the gradual change of scene. Where once were to be seen grazing flocks of sheep and hers of cattle, are now flourishing plantations of pines, a wildlife sanctuary, and a very busy paper mill, also an extensive sand-mining industry, which have contributed in no small way to the construction of factories and homes in the Latrobe Valley.