McDonalds Track

McDonalds Track originally went from the Tobin Yallock Bridge (where the South Gippsland Highway crosses the Lang Lang River) to Morwell, it followed the ridges of the Strzelecki Ranges and was about seventy miles (about 110kms) in length. You can see the start of the track as it is the first turn-off into Lang Lang on the Highway coming from Koo-Wee-Rup, then it went to Nyora and Poowong. Remnants of the track are still named on maps, around Poowong East, Mount Worth (the highest point of the original track) then there is another section around Childers, Thorpdale and Narracan.

The track was surveyed by Assistant-Surveyor George Thomas McDonald. He started in 1860 and it was finished in 1862. It was hoped that the track would provide an alternate route for stock to get from Gippsland to Melbourne. Once they got to Tobin Yallock they could then be shipped from Western Port Bay to Melbourne.  The Argus of January 1, 1863 published a report by McDonald of his progress and he was very confident that with the exception of a few places, a most excellent road may when cleared be had to Gipps Land....there are no creeks to cross, consequently no bridges will be required the ground is almost all good and firm, so that travelling may be performed with safety and comfort at all seasons of the year. The cost of clearing will be the chief item of expenditure, but that, together with the expense of making a few side cuttings ....should not exceed £10,000 pounds. Indeed for that sum I consider that thoroughly good road, one chain wide, could be made, which would be practical for travelling day or night. I specify a road one chain [20 metres] wide because the ridge for a large proportion of the distance would not admit of one wider, and in one or two places it cannot, without levelling, be made wider than forty-five or fifty feet [15 metres].  One of the greatest objections by the public to this road will be the scarcity of feed for stock but as the soil is generally good, I have little doubt that in the course of time hotel keepers along the road will clear and sow paddocks with grass for the accommodations of themselves and others.

Map of McDonalds Track. Source: Pack Tracks to Pastures: a history of Poowong District 

by Ross Hartnell (Poowong Centenary Committee, 1974) 

In the end the track was never used, apparently due to the fact that there were no permanent water holes along the route.  What else do we know about the Track? When McDonald created the track it was about seven foot (just over 2 metres) wide to Mount Worth and from there it ‘narrowed considerably’. All supplies and equipment had to come from Cranbourne. The area was steep, heavily  forested, some trees were 300 feet high  (about 90 metres) and often the surveying party found that they were following minor ridges and had to back track to the major ridge.  McDonald also reported that he had found coal seams along the track.

Sadly for McDonald his hopes of the route becoming a major road never eventuated and no hotel keepers ever came to provide accommodation and hospitality.  It was about 1874 that settlers began selecting land along the McDonalds Track around Poowong, and, by then, the reports were that the track was completely overgrown. Later settlers branched out from there to Poowong East and Poowong North. This area was also opened up by the establishment of a coach track from Poowong to Drouin after the Gippsland Railway was opened in 1878. The other local effect the Track had was the establishment of the township of Tobin Yallock.

The first store and hotel were built c.1867 by William Lyall (who owned Harewood) and located on part of the Tobin Yallock (or Torbinurruck) squatting run on the junction of McDonald’s Track and the South Gippsland Highway. This store and hotel became the nucleus of the town of Lang Lang, as it was officially known, though the locals called it Tobin Yallock. Tobin Yallock would eventually have a church, a Post Office, Mechanics’ Institute and other stores. Its decline began with the coming of the railway when the station, called Carrington (later known as Lang Lang), was built east of Tobin Yallock, in February 1890. By about 1894 most of the businesses and public buildings had transferred to the new Lang Lang based around the railway station.

What do we know of George Thomas McDonald? He came from Dumfries in Scotland and arrived in Victoria in 1853. According to the State Government Gazette he was employed in the Lands and Survey Office in August 1857 and was there until about 1879.  On November 24, 1869 he married Amelia Margaret Mitchell. He was listed in the marriage notice in The Argus as the District surveyor, Castlemaine District. Amelia was listed as the second daughter of the Hon W.H.F Mitchell. Sir William Mitchell was President of the Legislative Council. They had eight children  (not five as is incorrectly reported in Amelia's obituary, left) - Isabel (born 1871), William (1873),  Christina (1875 - 1883),  James (1877), Allan (1878),  Thomas (1880 -1881), George (1882) and Sidney (1885).  The first five were born in Victoria and then the last three were born in Queensland.

In spite of giving birth to eight children in 14 years, Amelia lived to the ripe old age of 95 and died in Brisbane in 1939. I have the impression that Amelia McDonald was a ‘good catch’ and perhaps George ‘married up’ as they used to say. Certainly in the report of her death in The Argus on July 25, 1939 (reproduced here) there is no mention her husband, only her illustrious father.

As the obituary states their daughter, Isabel, married Brigadier-General Cecil Foott. You can read his biography here on the Australian Dictionary of Biography website. Foott was born in Bourke in New South Wales and had a distinguished military career and retired to Beaconsfield Upper where he died in June 1942. Foott is buried in the Berwick Cemetery. He was in an unmarked grave until 2015 when the Narre Warren & District Family History Group discovered this whilst they were doing research into the World War One soldiers buried at the cemetery. The Family History Group, in conjunction with the R.S.L, unveiled a headstone on his grave on April 11, 2015.

Back to George Thomas McDonald - he died on February 3, 1915 aged 79. His death notice listed his address as ‘late of Rocklea and Gladstone districts’.  I can't find an obituary of him. I feel that he is a forgotten man in the history of Victoria, but now everytime you drive past McDonalds Track on the way down to Phillip Island or South Gippsland, then you will know a bit about the man behind the name.

The Queenslander  February 13, 1915

Much of the information about McDonald's survey of the track comes from the Book - Pack Tracks to Pastures: a history of Poowong District by Ross Hartnell (Poowong Centenary Committee, 1974) 

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Mobile Library towns - back in time

Casey Cardinia Library Corporation (CCLC)  has a Mobile Library which services various towns throughout the Cardinia Shire.   If you aren't  a regular Mobile Library user but happen to be meandering around the country side then you should pop in and take a look if you see it stopped and open for business. The Mobile has a good collection of  items - books, DVDs, CDs, magazines etc - you just use your regular CCLC membership card.  Click here to access the timetable. If you want to read about the history of Mobile Library services in the region, click here.

I thought it would be interesting to take a look back in time, at the towns where the Mobile Library stops.

On Monday, it stops at Bunyip, Garfield and Tynong.

Bunyip - Main Street,  1908.

Photograph: Call of the Bunyip by Denise Nest.

Garfield - Looking down Main Street, 1910.

Photograph: North of the line: a pictorial record

Tynong - Looking west

Photograph: North of the line: a pictorial record

On Tuesday, it stops at Beaconsfield Upper and Gembrook.

Beaconsfield Upper - Wilson's store

Photograph: Upper Beaconsfield: an early history by Charles Wilson

Gembrook - Walker's Store

Photograph: North of the line:  a pictorial record

On Wednesday,  it stops at Beaconsfield.

Beaconsfield - Woods Street

Photograph: Beaconsfield History Group

On Thursday, it stops at Maryknoll and Cockatoo.

Maryknoll - Post Office and General Store, 1969.

Photograph: Maryknoll: history of a Catholic Rural Settlement by Gael White (2002)

Cockatoo - Fairbridge's store

Photograph: North of the line:  a pictorial record

On Friday, it stops at Lang Lang and Koo-Wee-Rup. 

Lang Lang - Main Street

Photograph: Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society collection

Koo-Wee-Rup - Rossiter Road, 1923

Photograph: Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society collection.

On Saturday, it's back to Bunyip.

Bunyip - Pearson and Company store, c. 1905.

Photograph: Call of the Bunyip by Denise Nest

If this has inspired you to visit the Mobile Library then click here for the link to the time table. 

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Lang Lang

Here are some interesting early views of Lang Lang. The photograph below is the Main Street (Western Port Road) taken in the 1920s. Amongst the shops in the photograph are a a General Store which sold The Argus as well as Texaco products; Tomlinson's Store which sold drapery, footwear and china; Glasscock's Grocery and ironmongery and the Post Office


The Cardinia Shire Heritage Study describes the English, Scottish and Australian Bank Ltd building (above) as one of the more architecturally sophisticated buildings for the district and the era. Its classically inspired rendered two storey parapeted form is unusual for commercial buildings in the Shire's townships. It was built in 1929.

The Masonic Temple was built in 1926. The Lang Lang Lodge, No.236, was consecrated on October 27, 1915 and met in the Mechanics' Institute until their Temple was built. The first Master of the Lodge was William Eason, who was the Head Teacher at Koo-Wee-Rup State School from 1914 to 1936.

The Soldiers Memorial Hall was originally built as a Mechanics' Institute. The original Hall had been built at Tobin Yallock and re-located into the new town of Lang Lang (based around the railway) in the early 1890s. In 1925 the Hall became a Soldiers Memorial Hall and the brick front was added. The Hall burnt down in November 1966.


Finally, a lovely view of Railway Avenue. The construction of the Great Southern Line was responsible for the development of Lang Lang. Lang Lang's fore runner, the town of Tobin Yallock, was based around the intersection of McDonald's Track and what is now the South Gippsland Highway. The nearest railway station to the Tobin Yallock settlement, called Carrington, opened in February 1890 and was re-named Lang Lang in the December.

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Lang Lang Guardian

The Lang Lang & District Historical Society has reproduced the entire Lang Lang Guardian on DVD. The DVD covers the years February 1902 until December 1918. According to the local history, Protector's Plains : history of Lang Lang Primary School No.2899 & District, 1888-1988 the Guardian was shifted to Koo-Wee-Rup in 1918, and became the Koo-Wee-Rup Sun. The Guardian provides a wealth of information on early Lang Lang and surrounding towns such as Yannathan and Yallock. It was really a one-stop paper which could provide the local farmer and his family with all the information they needed. For a start, it had International News, for instance the edition of May 3, 1902 has a report on the health of Queen Wilhelmina of Holland and a report on the cost of the Auckland Town Hall.

Lang Lang Guardian, May 3 1902. Click on all the images to enlarge them.

Naturally, there is also plenty of local news and always of interest are the advertisements. There are many advertisements from Melbourne and Dandenong Companies offering their services to the locals as well as advertisements from local firms, such as Ernest Cougle's store, where all the necessaries of a household could be purchased. Ernest Cougle had taken over the store in 1907 from John Donaldson, who had purchased the store in 1903 from the original owners, the Priestley family. They had arrived in Lang Lang in 1898.

This advertisement for Ernest Cougle 's store was in October 11, 1911 edition.

Local News covered sporting groups, Churches, Community Groups such as the Red Cross. Farmers could get reports from the Dandenong Market, information on farming issues such as how to improve the dairy herd and Poultry Notes. During the First World War, there were articles on locals who had joined up, plus fund raising efforts. In the item below, it mentions the death of Private Frank Keighery. Edward Keighery, a boot maker, and his wife Annie, had arrived in Lang Lang in 1903 with their four children, Christopher (b.1889), Frank (b.1894) Sheila (b.1899), and Ned (b.1901). Frank had enlisted on March 20, 1915, and embarked aboard HMAT Euripides on May 10, 1915. He was killed in action on September 11, 1915 at Brown's Dip, near Lone Pine on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

This section of local news is taken from the Lang Lang Guardian of October 27, 1915.

Finally there were articles of interest to women. The Guardian had Health information, a weekly serial and Fashion notes, so even though you lived in the country, there was no need to be unfashionable. This article, below, from 1907 caught my attention. This elegant Ladies Fichu Bodice could be made from Butterick Pattern 9618, which came in six sizes. The pattern could be purchased for 10 shillings from M.Thorp & Co in Collins Street.

Lang Lang Guardian, May 8, 1907. A Fichu is a woman's shawl, or piece of lace, worn around the neck or shoulders.

You can purchase a copy of this DVD from the Lang Lang &District Historical Society, P.O Box 8, Lang Lang, 3984 for $30.00 plus postage. They also have an interesting website at http://www.langlang.net/historical.html

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Proving Ground at Lang Lang

For many people, their only knowledge of Lang Lang is that it is the home of the General Motors-Holden Proving Ground. The Proving Ground was opened in 1957 to carry out automotive testing and development. A vehicle safety laboratory also operates on the site, though the employees probably look a bit different from these two men shown in a 1960 advertisement.

Advertisement from Port of Melbourne Quarterly, July-September, 1960. Page 32.

Before the Proving Ground was opened, the cars were tested on the open roads. However due to increased traffic, the need for various surfaces for the testing and the need for security to test prototype vehicles, GMH saw the advantage of a private testing facility. They looked for land within a 50 mile (80km) radius of the city which was both flat and hilly and found suitable land just out of Lang Lang. The 2,167 acres (877 hectares) was purchased in 1955. From 1957, the Proving Ground has tested every Holden from the FC model onwards.

According to the Lang Lang town community website, since operations began in 1957, Holden test drivers and engineers have clocked up over 111 million kilometres in evaluating prototype, pre-production and current production vehicles on the Proving Ground's varied road system. A total of 454 cars have made the one-way, 100 metre journey into its concrete crash barrier.

Advertisement from Port of Melbourne Quarterly, January-March, 1966. Page 10. If you are unsure what they do at a Proving Ground, click on this image to enlarge it, and it will tell you.

The Proving Ground has a circular, banked high-speed track, a network of ride and handling roads, rough tracks, a twist course, a "rattle and squeak" track, dust road, test hills, a skid pad as well as mud and water baths. These roads and tracks take up only a small part of the land. The majority of the site is still natural bushland and is a fauna and flora habitat, with over 53 bird species recorded and 140 plant species.

Advertisement from Port of Melbourne Quarterly April-June 1966. Page 40, showing an aerial view of the Complex.

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Butter and Cheese Factories - Part 3

Lang Lang Butter Factory.

Image: Lang Lang & District Historical Society

In this blog post, we will look at the Yallock, Lang Lang and Yannathan milk factories. Yallock Southern Creamery, which was situated on the corner of the Yallock Creek and the No.5 Yallock drain, opened in 1897 as a Co-Operative, closed in 1898, re-opened 1899 and eventually sold to the owners of the Lang Lang Butter Factory. A butter factory had operated in Lang Lang for a few years before it closed in February 1893. It re-opened around 1895 with Charles Wood (or his company Wood & Co) being listed as the owners until 1926, when it was sold to Southern State Produce. It was then purchased by Ivan Stedman, a butter merchant, in 1928. It closed in 1940. The Factory was a major employer in Lang Lang. Farm pick-ups were initially done by horse and cart, but the 1930s the Factory had a fleet of trucks which collected from farms as far away as Phillip Island.

Image: Lang Lang & District Historical Society

Lang Lang Butter Factory trucks. The photograph above, shows a truck on the punt to Phillip Island.

Image: Lang Lang & District Historical Society

Yannathan Butter Factory (pictured below) was established in 1900 or 1905 (depending on sources) and was purchased by Ivan Stedman at the same he purchased the Lang Lang Factory. From 1929 the Cranbourne Shire Rate books lists the Yannathan factory as the “old Butter Factory” so I assume it was closed at this time. Yannathan, Catani and Bayles dairy farmers could also send their milk to Melbourne on the train, after the Strezlecki Railway line opened in 1922, and in 1923 the milk train carried over 1000 gallons of milk per day from those stations.

Yannathan Butter Factory

Image: More Mickle Memories of Koo-Wee-Rup by David Mickle, published by the author, 1987. 

Incidentally, Ivan Stedman (1895-1979) was a champion swimmer and led the Australian team at the opening ceremony of the Antwerp Olympics in 1920. He won a silver medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay team at those Olympics and also competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics. This is an achievement, made even more remarkable, by the fact that Ivan spent over three years in the A.I.F. during the First World War and was wounded at Passchendaele.

To read Part One of these blog posts on Butter and Cheese Factories, click here. To read Part Two, click here.

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The Railways - The Great Southern line

Cranbourne Railway Station
Photo source: The Great Southern Railway : the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland by Keith Macrae Bowden

In the last post we looked at the Gippsland Railway line, this blog will present a history of the Great Southern line to South Gippsland. The completion of the Gippsland line in 1879 encouraged settlement in the area as new settlers used the stations as jumping off points and would walk to new selections in the hills. Railway Leagues were established to push for more lines. The steep hills of South Gippsland and the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp meant overland travel for South Gippsland was difficult. Residents from Foster had to travel to Sale and then by rail. People living around Port Albert travelled and received supplies by sea. The Great Southern line commenced construction in 1887 and was opened to Korumburra on June 2, 1891. It was then completed in two more sections, Korumburra to Toora and Toora to Port Albert.

A trestle bridge over the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp
Photo source: The Great Southern Railway : the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland by Keith Macrae Bowden

The Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp had proven to be impediment to the construction. The contractor had to construct bridges within the embankments to allow water to escape. Each bridge was over 100 metres long and there were four separate bridges per mile (1.6 km). The bridges had 72 piles which were initially dragged by bullock, until some bullocks sank in the mud. The contractors, Falkingham and Son, then had to carry the piles on a locomotive on the existing track, so no bridge could be built until they came to the site. Some of these early timber bridges can still be seen around Koo-Wee-Rup and are in the Cardinia Shire Heritage Register.In fact even after the Railway opened the Swamp was still not completely drained and a journalist travelling on a train reported that when traversing the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp, it ‘had the appearance of an inland sea, where water lay deep on either hand and spread far over the land’

Lyndhurst Station
Photo source: The Great Southern Railway : the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland by Keith Macrae Bowden

The original Stations from Dandenong, in the Casey Cardinia region, were Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde, Tooradin. This section to Tooradin opened October 1, 1888. Dalmore (originally called Peer’s Lane, then Koo-Wee-Rup West) and Koo-Wee-Rup (originally called Yallock), Monomeith (originally called Glassock’s), Caldermeade, and Lang Lang (originally called Carrington) opened November 11, 1890. 

The South Gippsland Railway line now stops at Cranbourne.  Passenger services beyond Dandenong ceased in June 1981 but goods services continued to operate. In 1992, the goods trains ceased and this is when the line beyond Leongatha was taken up. The passenger service was reinstated on December 9 1984 and continued to run until July 24 1993. Trains returned between Dandenong and Cranbourne when the line was electrified in March 1995.  Lyndhurst Station is no more, although it was apparently used until 2009 for cement. However, Merinda Park Station opened in March 1995 in conjunction with the new electrified line and Lynbrook Station opened April 2012.

Lang Lang Railway Station

Photo source: Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 12800/P1, item H 4285

The photographs and most of the information in this post comes from The Great Southern Railway : the illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland by Keith Macrae Bowden. Published in 1970 by the Australian Railway Historical Association. Unfortunately it is now out of print. Some of the dates of opening comes from Victorian Railways to '62 by Leo J. Harrigan (published by the Victorian Railways, 1962)

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Lang Lang

The original settlement at Lang Lang was on the corner of McDonalds Track and South Gippsland Highway. A store and hotel were built by William Lyall in c. 1867 on his property Tobin Yallock or Torbinurruck. This town was officially known as Lang Lang although locals called it Tobin Yallock. Tobin Yallock would eventually have a church, a Post Office, Mechanics’ Institute and other stores. The Great Southern Railway line to Port Albert reached Lang Lang in February 1890. The Railway Station was named Carrington after Charles Robert Carrington, the third Baron Carrington, who was Governor of New South Wales from 1885-1890. Carrington was later created the Marquess of Lincolnshire. Carrington had the honour of being the first living person, other than Queen Victoria, to ever appear on an Australian postage stamp. He and Governor Arthur Phillip jointly appeared on a New South Wales stamp in 1888. Incidentallly, a mint condition Carrington stamp is today valued at around $400.00 or 190 pounds sterling.

The Railway Station was renamed Lang Lang in December 1890. The coming of the railway caused the decline of Tobin Yallock and by 1894 most of the businesses and public buildings had transferred to the new Lang Lang near the Railway Station.

Interestingly the Lang Lang area had also been known by another name at one time, that of Protector’s Plain. This was the name of a State School which opened on the Westernport Road in 1888. The school community was re-located onto the current site in Lang Lang in June 1891. The name Protector’s Plain (also Protector's Flats) came from a camp in the area used in the late 1830s and early 1840s by William Thomas, a Protector of Aborigines.

The history of Lang Lang is covered in the book Protector's Plains : history of Lang Lang Primary School No.2899, 1888-1988 and district compiled by Barbara Coghlan in 1988. This book has a full list of pupils who attended the State School, information on local families, community groups and businesses and a history of the area. It also includes information on the Easter Monday rodeo which began in the early 1940s and the General Motors Proving ground. GMH purchased the 900 plus hectare site in the mid 1950s. It is still in use, and its many acres of uncleared bush land are a wildlife habitat.

 The Lang Lang and District Historical Society was established in 1988. The Society maintains a small, but interesting,  Museum in the old Infant Welfare Centre.  More information on their website  www.langlang.net/historical.html

Lang Lang, c. 1906

State Library of Victoria Image H2014.1013/157  

The greeting on the card reads: George told me to tell Neil to come, so had to say they had a room, he was surprised at it

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Lost and Almost Forgotten towns of Colonial Victoria.

Many people tracing their Family history, come across a town which cannot be located on a modern map. This may be because the town no longer exists or that it has changed its name. To help locate these "missing" towns you could consult Lost and almost forgotten towns of Colonial Victoria : a comprehensive analysis of Census results for Victoria, 1841-1901 by Angus B.Watson. Mr Watson has listed all the towns and villages , as defined by the Government Statist, for all Victorian censuses between 1841 and 1901. Perhaps your ancestor attended Tobin Yallock State School or Cannibal Creek State School or a family document lists Irishtown as an address. These won't be found on a modern map but this book will tell you that Tobin Yallock later became Lang Lang and Cannibal Creek State School was re-named Garfield and that the Emerald Gold field diggings were listed on the 1871 Census as Irishtown. The book also lists the population of the towns, so it is interesting to read that Berwick grew from a population of 60 people in 1861 with 14 dwellings to 452 in 1901 with 98 dwellings. This book is available for loan at our Pakenham and Cranbourne branches.

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