COAL CREEK HERITAGE VILLAGE
(M. Fullard)

On June 18, 1998, we had an excursion to the Coal Creek Heritage Village at Korumburra.

On arrival, we were introduced to the project with an excellent film about South Gippsland - Coal was discovered at Cape Patterson in 1826; in 1841 Paul Strzelecki broke through the endless, dominating forest from the North East and, later, the settlers came.

The newcomers were allotted 70 hectares at $2.00 per hectare, which was to be repaid over 40 years. They had to make a road and clear the Blackbutt, Dogwood, Hazel, Musk and ferns, including bracken 10 ft. high. After the forest had been cleared, there was mud providing just a living. There were lots of little communities, about 8 to 10 km. apart.

The soil was very good and the rainfall plentiful; the farms eventually prospered and soon there were 38 co-operative butter factories in the area.

Diggers from the gold mines arrived to work the coal seams at Coal Creek where wages were low, 66 cents a day. There were strikes, with the 1903 strike lasting 70 weeks.

We moved around the village, finding enjoyment. at the Silent Movies. At the Railway Station there was a 1910-15 K Class steam train engine with sound effects of engine, whistles and steam blowing.

We saw a Marshall portable steam engine that used to be transported around the district, used for sawing wood, cutting chaff and pumping water.

It. has been restored and is in working order.

There was a Colonial UnderFired Boiler (the fire was underneath); it had a double pass flue gas boiler which ran at 100 lbs- per square inch pressure. This had been manufactured by George & George, of South Melbourne, and produced 5 horsepower; it was used at a sawmill at Heyfield.

The Steam Winch was manufactured by Robert & Sons, Bendigo, 1880, and was used on the goldfields before coming to Korumburra in 1900. In the 1929 strike at Outtrim it was dynamited and one drum damaged. This winch has a cable attached to the top of the poppet head and raises and lowers the cages to transport the miners to lower levels. It has also been used to raise coal to the surface.

The sawmill, which operated in Milne Road, Korumburra, was typical of mills in the l880's.

There is a wattle and daub hut, similar to that built by Edmund Hobson at Tarwin in 1842. A11 of the materials used were from the surrounding land. These were the first mud houses. It was a common method of construction and it was weatherproof and secure. Small sticks of wattle, ash or gum were woven, like darning or latticework. This framework was covered-  with mud and after that had dried it was white-washed. The 2-roomed hut had a wooden shingle roof.

School No. 42 was from Jeetho and relocated in the village. It had a good reputation and in 1890 children would travel 25 miles by train to be taught by Franz Stielow. There were 14 double wooden desks with holes for the ink wells, an open fireplace, wooden floor and blackboard with a display of copperplate writing. There were maps on the walls and an Honor Roll with its sad crosses, Just like hundreds of schools all over Victoria.

Next door was the church built at Krowera in 1899, when church- going was a religious and a social event; it provided a break from work and gave the settlers a chance to meet with their neighbours.

The Doctor's Surgery : Mill-owners did not provide full medical services and doctors were not common in the mines. In 1895, the miners at Korumburra formed their own accident Society and hired their own Medical Officer.

We took a ride on the train named "Count Strzelecki", which was once used as a cane train at Bundaberg, Qld. It has a Fowler Steam Tank Engine and two carriages that were filled with passengers. The Conductor waved his green flag and blew his whistle; we reversed into the station, then forward on the 2 ft. gauge line to the dairy-farm where we saw Ayr- shire cattle, Berkshire pigs, English Leicester sheep, ducks, hens and roosters. There was a Forest Devil Winch, used to pull trees out by the roots.

We saw an enormous Undershot Water Wheel, built from local timber. The wheel was 20 ft. in diameter, had 12 spokes and 60 buckets. The fluming (wooden channels that carried water to the wheel) was 70 metres long. Waterwheels have been in use for hundreds of years; they ran  machinery in sawmills and flour-mills, also on the goldfields where there was plenty of water. This wheel is a copy of one used at Drouin in the 1890s. Here it is used to drive a chaff-cutter.

We went down the Coal Creek Extended Mine tunnel; skips (trucks) were winched down the tracks to the seam. When a miner had filled his skip he would put his token on top of the load and this was used as a tally for his pay. We saw 130 million-year old trees that had fossilized into black coal. Drift mining was used here: the tunnel followed the coal seam. As the tunnel is lower than the water table, it was constantly wet, with water dripping and seeping through ail the time. From 1891 to 1966, 29 men were killed in the mine. It was closed in 1966.

Coal Creek Heritage Village is a tribute to the early settlers of Gippsland. It shows their ingenuity and self-sufficiency in the home and their engineering skills in the mines, the timber mills and on the farms.

I'm sure that we all enjoyed this excursion and thank Dawn Hustler for arranging it.