How Was Australia in the 1860s?

Population of Australia Dec-1860: 1,145,585 (Between 1851 and 1861, the Australian population more than doubled)

The Victorian era and its culture were in existence from 1860 until 1901.

In the 1860s, the increased efficiency of the compound steam engine enabled Auxiliary steamers to travel to Australia entirely under steam power, replacing clipper ships.

Complex knowledge, skills and navigational tools were needed to sail to Australia. 

From England to Australia, around the Cape of Good Hope, could take up to four months. And in the Southern Ocean, the risk of hitting icebergs if a ship strayed too far south. The path between King Island and southern Victoria was treacherous and many shipwrecks occurred.

John McDouall Stuart reached the centre of the continent on April 23, 1860.

'Lady Daly' paddlesteamer at the Port Adelaide wharf. Passengers and crew line the decks and flags fly from the vessel's masts. City buildings can be seen in the background. A sternwheeler, she was built by Jackson and Murray circa 1861 and served successfully until 1878 when she was converted into a log barge. [On back of photograph] "Lady Daly' / name on top of wheelhouse / 1860-1865 ; Building on left is Wharf Hotel, licensee W.J. Gates 1860, 1861-1865'. Approximately 1860. SLSA

Macquarie Street Sydney, NSW, 1860 - 1863, Powerhouse Museum

On August 20, 1860, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills set out from Melbourne to chart a course to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition ended in tragedy when the explorers ran out of food. (At that time most of the inland of Australia was largely unknown to the European settlers)

Several anti-Chinese riots occurred at the Lambing Flat camps (today the town of Young), over a period of 10 months, between 1860 and 1861.

1860s - Perinatal mortality was about 1:10 (1.)

Shipping at Newcastle in the 1860s. Approximately 1860, SLSA

By January 1860 there were 11 benevolent asylums in the colony of New South Wales, housing 1,282 inmates and with a total annual expenditure of £25,822.

The Hobart Town Ragged School Association founded in 1854 provided free schooling for over 4000 children by the end of the 1860s. (TAS) A Ragged School system was established in The Rocks, Sydney, in 1862.

Australia reproduced many of the systems of charitable provision that existed in Britain. The NSW Government assumed responsibility for providing for the infirm and destitute in 1862.

Port Arthur Penitentiary (the large building in the centre of the image), with the Commissariat Stores on the waterfront on the left. 1860, NLAUST

Chinese gold digger starting for work ca. Queensland, 1860s. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, 1860s

View of Brisbane, QLD, 1860. Queensland State Archives

Unidentified children (one male one younger female). South Australian identities, Approximately 1860 SLSA

The Dunwich Benevolent Asylum for the aged, infirm and destitute operated by the Queensland Government in Australia, was located at Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay and operated from 1865 to 1946.

1860 - The average mortality rates for Australia peak at 2,059 deaths per 100,000 population per year. (1.) (Between the 1860s and 1960s, eight medical schools were established in Australia)

In 1860 it took 50 hours of labour to harvest one acre or 0.4 hectares of grain. In 1960 it took only 3 hours to do the same job. (3.)

Description: 'Hodgson' - a young Aborigine who worked at Eton Vale station, the sheep run taken up on the Darling Downs in 1840 by pioneer squatter and squire, Arthur Hodgson 1818-1902 (Description supplied with photograph) State Library of Queensland, Hodgson from Eton Vale Station, Darling Downs, ca. 1860

Ann and Albert Street, Brisbane, Qld - 1860 (photo from the Brisbane Tramway Museum Society) Aussie~mobs

Hobart - corner of Elizabeth and Bathurst Street, TAS, 1860, LibrariesTAS

The Victorian College for the Deaf on St Kilda Road in Melbourne opened in 1860.

Census findings show that Australian literacy levels had risen from 58% in 1861 to 80% in 1901. (2.)

In late 1861 the Clermont goldfield was discovered in Central Queensland near Peak Downs.

In 1861 the telegraph line between Sydney and Brisbane was opened, and Adelaide and Sydney were directly linked in 1867. Australia was transforming, greatly reducing its geographic isolation from the rest of the world.

1861–1862: John McDouall Stuart led the first successful expedition to cross the continent from south to north, through the centre of the continent.

John McDouall Stuart in 1860, SLSA. John McDouall Stuart (7 September 1815 – 5 June 1866), was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers.

7 November 1861 the first Melbourne Cup horse race was run.

The 1860s was an intense period of bushranger activity. For example, in 1862, a gang including Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner and John Gilbert held up the gold escort at Eugowra, near Forbes stealing £14 000 of gold and banknotes.

1860s Professor Kernot, University of Melbourne Archives, William Charles Kernot (16 June 1845 – 14 March 1909), was an Australian engineer, first professor of engineering at the University of Melbourne and president of the Royal Society of Victoria

South Australia took control of the Northern Territory which was previously part of the colony of New South Wales in 1863.

The English and Australian Cookery Book is considered to be the first Australian cookbook. It was published in London in 1864.

Native Police, Rockhampton, QLD, 1864, Queensland Police Museum (The Native Police killed 24,000 Indigenous people across the state, according to one historian's estimate. Another estimate puts the death toll at just over 41,000.). Professor Bryce Barker says they were "deliberately recruited from areas that were far away from where they were going to be working, so they had no kin relationship with the people that they were going to be killing".

May 1864, Bushranger Ben Hall and his gang escape from a shootout with police after attempting to rob the Bang Bang Hotel in Koorawatha, New South Wales.

Portrait of two men wearing top hats, Sydney, NSW, ca. 1860s, NLAUST

On 1 December 1864 a huge fire destroyed all of the buildings in the block bordering Albert, Queen, George and Elizabeth Streets, Brisbane, Queensland.

Aftermath of the Great Fire of Brisbane, 1864 - Queen Street, SLQLD

Playing croquet in the Public Gardens, Perth, WA, July 1864, SLWA

Geraldton homestead and outhouses, WA, approximately 1865. SLWA

A dray loaded with a barrel and pulled by a single horse stands outside a slab hut. A man is stood behind the dray with another barrel alongside him. 1860s, State Library of Queensland

Circular Quay, Sydney, NSW, 1865. From the volume titled 'Miscellaneous Shipping in the Days of Sail'. SLSA

View of Adelaide looking from the corner of Pirie Street and King William Street, (1865). Adelaide. SASA

Shipping at Hobart 1865. 'King of Trumps', 'Lady Emma', 'Aladdin', 'Runnymede', SS 'Monarch' in foreground. 1865, SLSA

Men standing on and beside the P-class 0-6-0 type steam locomotive No.7. The men were probably railways staff, including a loco crew. Victoria, 1865, MuseumsVIC

Royal Coach Mail pulled up outside the Hagen Arms Hotel on Angas Road, Echunga, SA. The name of the proprietor is stated as J Warland who held the position from 1865-1876. Approximately 1865, SLSA

Mary Langworthy Wilson (nee Hoyles) circa 1865. Born in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada in 1821, daughter of Newman Wright Hoyles who was the Colonial Treasurer of Newfoundland. She married George Harrison Wilson, an Englishman from a well-to-do family, who had set up a business in St. Johns. In 1853 George and Mary Wilson and their family emigrated to Australia and settled in Ipswich, Queensland. The original of this portrait, taken by Bradley & Allen in Sydney, is at the State Library of Queensland, Aussie~mobs

Official opening of the first section of the Ipswich to Grandchester railway, Ipswich, QLD, 1865, SLQLD

Students and their teacher photographed outside the South Rhine Presbyterian Church., 1866, SLSA

Portrait of Truganini [Tasmania, ca. 1866] [picture] / [C. A Woolley] Truganini (also known as Lallah Rookh; c. 1812 – 8 May 1876) was an Aboriginal Tasmanian woman. She was one of the last native speakers of the Tasmanian languages and one of the last individuals solely of Aboriginal Tasmanian descent.

Photograph of convict John Boyle O'Reilly (1844-1890) taken in 1866. John Boyle O'Reilly (28 June 1844 – 10 August 1890) was an Irish poet, journalist, author and activist. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which he was transported to Western Australia.

Central Brunswick: Sydney Road, Melbourne, VIC, (CR. Albert Street) about 1866, taken from Albert Street, looking south. Photograph - 1866, SLNSW

Mount Alexander Battalion, Sunbury Camp, VIC, 1866, MuseumsVIC

The Orphan Asylum, Adelaide, SA, [picture] / [assembled] by Benjamin Greene, SLSA

Mary Helena Fortune (c. 1833 – 1911), an Australian writer, under the pseudonyms "Waif Wander" and 

"W.W,  was one of the earliest female detective writers in the world. Her major work was the police procedural series "The Detective's Album", which appeared in the Australian Journal under her pseudonym of "W. W." from 1868.

In 1867, James Nash discovered gold at Gympie.

The first person to estimate the lifespan of Australians was Morris Birkbeck Pell, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sydney. In 1867, he showed that the life expectancy for a newborn in the colony was 45.6 years. (4.)

Thomas and John Clarke, bushrangers, from a photograph taken in Braidwood gaol (Thomas was shot in the arm), 1867. SLNSW (Brothers Thomas and John Clarke were Australian bushrangers from the Braidwood district of New South Wales. A journalist said: "Their crimes were so shocking that they never made their way into bushranger folklore — people just wanted to forget about them."

Flinders Street from the corner of Wickham Street, Townsville, QLD, in 1867. The photo is credited to Richard Daintree, SLQLD

H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AND SUITE : In Mining Costume after descending THE BAND OF HOPE GOLD MINE, BALLARAT, AUSTRALIA, 1867, SLVIC

The last convict ship to Australia, the Hougoumont, arrived in the Swan River Colony (Western Australia) on 10 January 1868 with 229 convicts. (convicts from Britain served as a cheap workforce until 1868)

In 1868, the Granny Smith Apple was propagated by Maria Ann Smith in Eastwood, New South Wales.

South Sea Islander cane workers on a plantation in North Queensland, ca. 1868, SLQLD

Railways in Australia date from 10 December 1831, and continued to expand during the 1860s.

In 1868 the colony of Tasmania became the first in Australia to make school attendance for children between the ages of seven and 12 compulsory.

In 1868, Henry O'Farrell tried to shoot the visiting Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria, at Clontarf, Sydney.

In 1868, 13 Aboriginal cricketers from Victoria's western districts sailed from Sydney to become the first Australian team to tour England.

Original photograph of the first Australian cricket team to compete in England in 1868. All Aboriginal players. denisbin (The concept of an Aboriginal cricket team can be traced to cattle stations in the Western District of Victoria, where, in the mid-1860s, European pastoralists introduced Aboriginal station hands to the sport. An Aboriginal XI was created with the assistance of Tom Wills—captain of the Victoria cricket team and founder of Australian rules football—who acted as the side's captain-coach in the lead-up to and during an 1866–67 tour of Victoria and New South Wales)

Portrait of Lady Diamantina Roma Bowen. (Wife of George Bowen, first Governor of Queensland), 1868. Queensland State Archives (The Contessa Diamantina di Roma was born in 1832 or 1833, in the United States of the Ionian Islands, then a British protectorate, today in Greece)

Bourke Street [Melbourne, VIC, 1868] NLAUST

Workers Outside Bendigo Tin Shop, Bendigo, Victoria, circa 1868, MuseumsVIC

The Suez Canal opened in 1869 providing ships from Europe an alternative route to Australia.

Government surveying party, Palmerston campsite. The area was known as Fort Hill and was the location of George Goyder's survey camp. South Australian Government was keen to establish a permanent settlement in the Northern Territory. Goyder divided his men into various working parties including Road Party, Trig. Piling, Landing Party, Timber Party, Ship Party. The five men shown in this photograph are sitting outside a tent next to their trigonometry measuring tools, Approximately 1869, SLSA

Arrival of Hon. T. Elder's camels at Wilcannia township bringing stores from Burra Burra, South Australia, May 12th 1869. Camel train at Wilcannia outside Alex Ross & Co. Wine and Spirit Merchant.. NLAUST

Victoria was the first colony to enact comprehensive regulations on the lives of Aboriginal Australians. The Aboriginal Protection Act 1869. here

In the 1860s glass-plate negatives were invented, which meant that photographs were reproducible and more widely available.

The boom fuelled by the gold rush and wool industry lasted through the 1860s and the 1870s.

Australia was famous around the world for its democracy during the 1860s. In the United States, the secret ballot was known as the Australian ballot. 

Early view of Ravenswood, Queensland, ca. 1869, SLQLD, Ravenswood is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. Gold was discovered here in 1868

The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, Pitt Street. From an album of photographs with the inscription "Colonel Trevor, 14th Regiment, November 10th, 1869" in the Collection of the State Library of New South Wales

Rutherglen, VIC: Wine and Gold

Rutherglen is located in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, near the Murray River border with New South Wales.

The area around Rutherglen is one of Australia's oldest wine-growing regions in Australia. However, The Rutherglen gold field was first established in 1860 with the discovery of rich deposits of alluvial gold.

Yorta Yorta (Kwatkwat) Aboriginal People

The Yorta Yorta are river people. The Kwatkwat people who hunted gathered and fished around the Rutherglen region are probably part of the broader Clan of Yorta Yorta/Pangerang people.

The Bayadherra (Broad Shelled Turtle), is a Yorta Yorta totem. Totems come from animals, plants, landscape features and the weather and often determine relationships with others and marriage rules. 

 

Yorta Yorta people primarily lived around rivers, lagoons, creeks and wetlands, where sources of food and songlines are located. Songlines in the Aboriginal belief system, trace the journeys of ancestral creator beings and their formation of the lands and waters during the Dreaming.

Men hunted kangaroo, lizards, snakes, goanna, small birds and harvested fish. Young boys were taught hunting and tracking skills honed by their ancestors.

Women used digging sticks to obtain roots and gathered seeds, fruits and leaves. Knowledge about foods was obtained over thousands of years and taught to the younger generations. 

A canoe tree, on the Murray River, is a tree which has had bark removed by Aboriginal Australians for the creation of bark canoes, shelters, weapons such as shields, tools, traps, containers (such as coolamons) Chronicle

"Spearing by torchlight was also common in Victoria; at night three bark canoes would go upstream, in the stem of each several torches of manna-tree wood; a native stood or sat with his back to the light and struck at the fish as he passed them. Another method was to lie across the canoe with the face in the water." (From Natives of Australia by Northcote W. Thomas)

"The natives of Victoria had to depend mostly on the yam, quandang, currant, raspberry, cherry, the fruits of the mesembryanthemum, the seed of the flax, the sow-thistle, the roots of the flag, water-grass, geranium, and male fern, the pith of the dwarf fern-tree, the native truffle, the leaves of the clover sorrel, the gums of the wattle, &c. He gathered manna, and made sweet drinks of the flowers of the honeysuckle. In the north-western parts of Victoria, he gathered the seeds of the nardoo, and other seeds, and pounded them, and ate the flour either in the form of paste or cakes." (Robert Brough Smyth)

Ceremony, Lake Moodemere, Victoria, 1900 [picture] / Tommy McRae

The Victoria Museum has in its collection a possum cloak collected from the Yorta Yorta people of north-eastern Victoria in 1853. Possum fur skins were stitched together, often with kangaroo sinew.

The Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site is considered sacred to local Aboriginal people. It is located at the base of Mt Pilot, in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, approximately 30 minutes drive from Rutherglen. A rock shelter and bush tucker area are also in the area.

1820s

In November 1824, explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell crossed the Murray River. (Indi is one of the traditional Aboriginal names for the Murray River)

Charles Sturt's 1829-30 expedition followed the Murrumbidgee River to its junction with the Murray River and on to the mouth of the Murray at Lake Alexandrina.

1.Hamilton Hume. 2. William Hovell. Hovell and Hume, 1824, an overland journey, from Sydney to Port Phillip

1830s

Major Thomas Mitchell, the noted explorer, passed through the district in 1836.

Overlanders began moving stock into the region. However, the Faithfull Massacre of 1838, when 20 Aboriginal Australians attacked 18 European settlers, killing eight of them, halted European settlement south of the Murray for a time. (reprisals and violence went on for some time)

The first pastoral run, Wahgunyah, was taken up in this district about 1839 by John Foord and John Crisp.

The European pastoral industry made hunting and gathering very difficult for Aboriginal people as stock depleted the grass on which game animals also relied.

1840s

In 1841, John Foord and John Crisp took up the "Wahgunyah Run" of about 35000 acres. On this land, the modern-day towships of Wahgunyah and Rutherglen would develop.

John Foord established the township of Wahgunyah, VIC, in the 1850s, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951)

1850s

In the 1850s, Lindsay Brown planted a four-acre vineyard on his "Gooramadda Run". (Gooramadda: Aboriginal for reed beds on the river flats)

In 1851 Victoria became a separate colony.

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 23 February 1858

Netherby Cellars, established in 1859, now ruins, can be seen from the road.

1860s

In 1860, gold was found beneath what is now the main street of Rutherglen. Soon, thousands came to the region hoping to strike it rich.

A canvas town grew quickly.

The town that developed was initially called Wahgunyah Diggings, then Calico Town, then Barkly after the then Governor of Victoria Sir Henry Barkly.

Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Saturday 27 October 1860

Within months, close to 20 deep lodes and seven reefs bearing gold were found.

The Poachers Paradise Hotel was built in 1860 as the Golden Ball. However, in 1863, the hotel was called the Rutherglen and was used as the booking office for coaches.

Victoria hotel, Rutherglen, VIC

The original Victoria Hotel was built in 1860, in Main Street, Barkly (now Drummond St), The hotel was moved to its present site in Rutherglen in 1863.

If you look through the carriage gates you will notice a
small brick building to the left. This was the town mortuary, which dates back to the early 1860s.

The Star Hotel was established on the corner of High St and Main Street in October 1860.

The name of the town became Rutherglen, after the home town in Scotland of John "Seven Star" Wallace, the local publican of the Star Hotel. Wallace was offered naming rights if he shouted drinks to the barroom.

By 1861 there were 21 hotels, a newspaper, three schools, a police station and a population of 20,000 people.

There were two canvas theatres operating in Rutherglen.

Mr D. G. Hamilton commenced business under a big gum tree, around which he piled his casks and cases, covering them with tarpaulins. From under these tarpaulins Mr Hamilton, in the first week of his business, sold 600 dozen of bottled stout. (2.)

Rutherglen became a town in 1862.

The population in 1862 consisted of 3755, inclusive of 143 Chinese. (1.)

Nott was born in London n 1812, and in 1860 arrived in Rutherglen, VIC, as a compositor, but there being no call at that time for his services, he started a butcher's shop, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954)

The town's original courthouse was built in 1864 with extensions in 1905.

George Sutherland Smith, and John Banks, began growing vines at "Sunday Creek" before relocating to build the "All Saints Castle", based on the design of "The Castle of Mey", Scotland, just three miles north of Wahgunyah, in 1864. 

Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1955), Saturday 21 October 1865
St Stephen's Anglican Church was built in 1864-65.

By the mid-1860s, Rutherglen had a population in excess of 10,000.

Rutherglen consisted of two cross streets, originally called Argyll and Elizabeth, then changed to Main and High.

In April 1869, the Common School commenced in hired premises at the Shire Hall.

1870s

Rutherglen became a shire in 1871.

The first two rooms of The Common School were erected in 1872 and the school opened to students in 1873. An extension was added in 1897.

Rutherglen wines win medals and awards at the Vienna Exhibition, London International Exhibition and International Exhibition in Melbourne.

Lake King was constructed in 1877 as a water supply for the town.

Corowa Free Press (NSW : 1875 - 1954), Friday 31 March 1876

The Congregational Church built 1877.

The railway complex was opened in 1879.

In January 1879 the Ned Kelly's gang were seen in the Rutherglen-Corowa region.

1880s

Rutherglen is producing around one-third of all Australian wine.

Aboriginal artist (Wahgunyah man), Tommy McRae, lived near Lake Moodemere, a natural lagoon, along with his family. Two ink drawings by Tommy McRae, were found in the Foord Family Collection. There appeared to be close ties between McRae and the Foord family. (McRae is buried near Wahgunyah in Carylyle Cemetery) See more Read more 

Stalking emu, ca. 1885, attributed to Tommy McRae

Main Street. Rutherglen, VIC, (State library Vic). Estimated date between 1880-1893

1899: Phylloxera disease affects the Rhue (now Jones) vineyard. However, replanting begins with American rootstock, saving the wine industry.

1890s

D G Hamilton's store was located on the North-East corner of Main and High Streets, Rutherglen, VIC. It was also referred to as David Hamilton's Clydeside Store. 1890. Victorian Collections

Lake Moodemere Reserve (Aboriginal) gazetted March 1891 and closed November 1937. Honorary guardians or police distributed rations. Station owners and others were also appointed as Honorary Correspondents in regional Victoria to distribute supplies to Aboriginal people.

Victoria Hotel, Rutherglen, VIC, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 21 April 1894. At night a large lighted acetylene lamp stood outside the front door of the Victoria Hotel, lighting the street and the laneway opposite to encourage travellers to head for the hotel. The lamp is currently in the Historical Society's care and may be viewed in the Common School Mueseum.

The Victoria Hotel was rebuilt in 1893-94.

The Methodist Church was built in 1896 and closed in 1974.

The Bank of Victoria on High St was built in 1896.

The peak gold mining period of Rutherglen was in the 1890s.

In Barkley St, Vidal's Cellars and Brandy Distillery, was built in 1897. Now lies in ruins.

The first Government Battery to crush quartz and extract gold, was erected in 1899 and was located on the Gooramadda Road. 

MANAGER JOHN M'KAY. Rutherglen on 37th -May, when the timber in the air shaft at the United Prentice mine caught fire. The manager, with two of tlie men, named Trevor Nixon and Alfred Madden, went down to make an inspection. THE RUTHERGLEN MINING FATALITY. — HEROIC MINERS, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 17 June 1899

The Bank of Australasia was built in 1899-1900.

1900s

Rutherglen, VIC, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 21 April 1894

The Rutherglen vineyards, VIC Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 2 July 1898

Rutherglen, VIC, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 2 July 1898

THE LATE JAMES GULLIFER Mr. James Gullifer, senr., whose death we have already recorded, was both in Bristol, England, and embarked to Austialia at the early age of 14 years. In the year 1835,
when but a youth he, with a party of other young men, of whom Mr. William Wise is the only known survivor, started with a large mob of cattle for Sir Charles Ebden, of Sydney, and travelled towards the river Murray with the intention of forming a station. They saw nothing that was suitable until they reached the river, where they settled and named the station Mount Gaberina. Later on, some of the stock straying over the Murray, the overseer discovering the fine quality of the country on the Victorian side, formed the station known as the Bonegiila, and which in later years was owned by the late Mr. Conisbee. Upon this station Mr. Gullifer lived with a hut mate for about two years. A wild life it was, and he has often been heard to say that one would have to watch with a gun while the other went for a bucket of water for fear of being speared by the blacks. It was while he was on Bonegilla that he dug out of a solid gum log the first boat that ever crossed the Murray. Later this old boat, was sold for £10 to Mr. Robert Browne, who used in for ferrying people over the river, until such timeas the punt was erected.Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW : 1860 - 1938), Friday 20 October 1899

1900s

The water tower -often called the "The Wine Bottle", was completed in 1900 and held 72,000 gallons to supply the town's water.

High Street, Rutherglen, Victoria - early 1900s, Aussie~mobs

ELECTRIC- LOCOMOTIVE CAPABLE OF HAULING 60 TRUCKS OF WASIIDIRT (ABOUT 30 TONS) FROM FIVE TO SIX MILES AN HOUR. AT THE GREAT SOUTHERN MINE, RUTHERGLEN,VICTORIA. Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 11 July 1903

RUTHERGLEN FROM THE WATER TOWER, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 7 March 1903

Main Street, Rutherglen, Victoria. Date: 1908.

Aboriginal family group at a river campsite at Lake Moodemere, near Wahgunyah and Corowa. A researcher has identified the man on the far left as Neddy Wheeler (died April 1908), Dhudhuroa man and language informant to R. H. Matthews. SLSA

Grape Pickers at Work, All Saints' Vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC,  Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Wednesday 20 May 1908

The new State School, Rutherglen, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 February 1909

Cellars at Fairfield, Rutherglen, VIC, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 31 March 1909

Allen's Star Hotel, Rutherglen, Victoria - circa 1910. H.W. Allen, Proprietor, Aussie~mobs

Main Street, Rutherglen, VIC, c. 1910. State Library of Victoria Image H90.140/951

The post office built 1910, includes two rooms from the 1863 post office.

RUTHERGLEN VITICULTURAL COLLEGE. VIC. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 2 September 1911

Workmen and students engaged in bench grafting, Rutherglen, VIC Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 2 September 1911

8th Australian Light Horse - pre WW1. Taken at Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia. Aussie~mobs

High Street Rutherglen, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 9 May 1914

Rutherglen, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 9 May 1914

WWI

Private Jack Laldlaw (killed) was a son of Mr. R. Laidlaw, late of Rutherglen, Vic. 3rd Infantry Battalion. Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 7 August 1915. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Wednesday 8 September 1915

Rutherglen Sun and Chiltern Valley Advertiser (Vic. : 1886 - 1957), Tuesday 2 February 1915

Private N. T. JENSEN, Killed in action; formerly of Rutherglen a member of the first military band at
the Bendigo military camp. Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 1 February 1917

1920s

PISE FARM HOMESTEAD, RUTHERGLEN, VIC, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 22 May 1920 (Rammed earth walls are sometimes known as pisé walls)

Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 2 April 1921

State and Higher Elementary School, Rutherglen, VIC, Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 19 April 1924,

The Soldier’s Memorial Hall was built in 1927.

Rutherglen Convent, VIC, constructed in 1927-1928,  Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954), Thursday 1 November 1928 (The original Convent was opened for Primary School children in 1901)

A native method of hunting. Hidden behind bundles of foliage, two blackfellows creeping on to a flock of parrots, by Tommy McRae (lived at Lake Moodemere, VIC) Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 8 June 1929

1930s

Rutherglen Gun Club, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 March 1930

Main street of Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 March 1930

Graham Bros.' cellars, Netherby vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 March 1930

 High Street, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 20 August 1932

 Cairn, to mark the site where gold was found at Rutherglen, September, 1860. Presented to the Shire by Cr. R. Ready and recently unveiled by Hon. Dr. Harris. M.L.C.Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 21 February 1931

Swabbing vines at Messrs Masterton's and Dobbin's vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 September 1934

Rutherglen Fire Station, VIC, Swabbing vines at Messrs Masterton's and Dobbin's vineyard, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 29 September 1934

Regatta at Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 11 January 1936

Rutherglen Show, VIC, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Friday 21 October 1938

The honorary secretary of the Victorian Bush Nursing Association (Sir James Barrett) speaking at the opening of the new bush nursing hospital at Rutherglen. VIC, Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 20 August 1938

Back to Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 15 April 1939

8th (Indi) Light Horse Regiment at Rutherglen, Victoria - 1939, Aussie~mobs

1940s and WWII

Members of the Patriotic Fund Auxiliary, Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 6 May 1942,

The Comforts Fund Younger Set have raised £80 and send 83 hampers and parcels to local boys abroad each month. Private H. E. Stanton and Driver H W Dodds, returned from the Middle East, thank .the girls. Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 6 May 1942

Rutherglen, Bush Fire Brigade, VIC, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Saturday 18 December 1943

 Good attendance at Rutherglen. Show, VIC, Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Thursday 1 November 1945

Rutherglen Cattle Sales, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 28 August 1946

The Rutherglen reservoir, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 28 August 1946

"Valencia Shoe Factory", Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 28 August 1946

MESSRS SEPPELT and SON'S winery at Rutherglen, which is now being duplicated to deal with increasing supplies of rain-damaged grapes from dried fruits areas. (VIC) Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 30 July 1947

Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Saturday 8 October 1949

1950s

Main Street of Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950

Bush Nursing Hospital staff and committee: Sister J. D'Arcy, Cr. W. Jasper (pres.), Sister C. Grayson, Mr C. A. Rickett (sec.), Nurse D. Matthison. Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950

State School Mothers' Club. From left, front row: Mesdames R. p  Sullivan (v.p.), R. Nicholson <v.p.), J. M. Mathews (pres.), R. Stanton p (secretary). Rutherglen, VIC. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950

Below : Urban Fire Brigade. From left, front row: Messrs J. Hocking (cap!.), G. Eingrave (lieut.), J. Carey (fore man), J. Edwards (sec.). Rutherglen, VIC, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1950

Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1934 - 1935; 1938 - 1951), Friday 10 November 1950

RUTHERGLEN HOTEL DAMAGED BY CYCLONE.VIC. Benalla Ensign (Vic. : 1938 - 1954), Thursday 5 June 1952

Rutherglen, VIC, 1954, SLVIC

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Monday 26 March 1956

Main road of Rutherglen, VIC, 1958, (Victoria Hotel on the right )Victoria Hotel on the right, SLVIC

1960s

Rutherglen High School opened in 1962.

1967: Rutherglen Wine Festival. The wine industry and tourism is reinvigorated.

A steel mesh structure, to make the water tower look like a wine bottle, was added to the top in 1969.

2000s

Indigo Shire Council took ownership of Rutherglen's historic water tower.

Around Rutherglen

The Victoria Hotel opened in 1894, replaced a former hotel which had been built on the site in the early 1860s, Rutherglen, VIC

The water tower is located in Hunter Street, Rutherglen, VIC. and was built in 1899-1900 to serve as the town's water supply

Rutherglen, Victoria, Nomad Tales

Fairfield House, Rutherglen, Victoria, 1889 Italianate Mansion

1889 Italianate Mansion “Fairfield”, double brick cellars, Rutherglen, VIC

Olive Hills House, Rutherglen, VIC, built in 1886

Star Hotel (was established in 1860), Rutherglen, VIC

Rutherglen Wine Experience and Visitor Information Centre, Rutherglen, VIC (erected in 1862)

Former National Bank, Rutherglen, VIC, built in 1896

The Rutherglen Courthouse, VIC, opened in February 1864 and was extended at the front in 1905

Main Street Rutherglen, VIC

Rutherglen Hotel, Poachers Paradise Hotel, Rutherglen, VIC. Built in 1860 as the Golden Ball and renamed the Rutherglen Hotel in 1863

In 1934 a new brick fire station at Rutherglen, VIC, replaced the existing wooden one

157 High Street - The Masonic Lodge, Rutherglen, VIC, was consecrated on the 31st of July 1902

St Stephen's Anglican church, built 1865, in Rutherglen, Victoria

Ready Homestead was built in 1899 by Royston Ready, a local councillor and undertaker. 92 High Street Rutherglen, VIC

Things To Do and Places To Go

History of Main Street Rutherglen

Arts Rutherglen Sculpture Trail Walk

Rutherglen Heritage Walk

Rutherglen Heritage Walk

Rutherglen Gold Battery

Rutherglen Gold Mine Tour

The Yeddonba Aboriginal Cultural Site

Rose of Sharon. An Original Rutherglen Gold Mining Lead. Lot 40, Hopetoun Road, Rutherglen