November 11 2019

Time to time the Deniliquin & District Historical Society puts pictures online and asks people to guess what business it was and it is a lot of fun.

The one that got people thinking lately was one of a newsagency and it looked like there were few clues as the black & white usage makes it harder to identify little deals.

Most of the guesses were around the St George Bank and Sydney House area and at first glance, it looks right but it isn’t.

Marie Loy correctly guessed what it was and it makes a lot of sense when you look closely at the image.

The correct answer is that it is Deniliquin Florist.

The first clue was that to the left of the tree at window height is one of the balls you see on top of the three shops between the Florist and the Pastoral Times.

The second clue is the window border artwork, it is now obscured by the balcony rail that didn’t exist in the time the photo shown by the historical society but at artwork is still there in 2019.

The balcony side wall hides the style of the bricks at the corner of the building making it less obvious but take away that wall and it is clear as day.

So there we have it, a pre 1927 look at the building that is now Deniliquin Florist.

November 9 2019 (project started May 2019)

This page features a list of movies that were shown at the Lyceum Theatre, unfortunately the list will never be 100% complete due to the destruction of records but we will make the list as complete as possible by going through newspaper archives.

Linked titles will take you to YouTube to view entire movies, clips or trailers so you can have some of the experience at home.

The founder of Lyceum Pictures and the skating rink, Mr Samuel MacGavin died in March 1918.

Lyceum Theatre (aka Lyceum Pictureland and Lyceum Pictures)

1914

The Adventures Of A Gentlemen Burglar
Cleopatra
The Cipher Message
Nero and Agrippina

1915 

The Convict’s Son
War and the Woman
Fighting Death
The Son of Adam
Trafalgar
Let ‘er Buck
Kid Ryan’s Hands (1915)
With the Australian Forces in Egypt (1915)
The Lamb, The Wolf and the Woman (1915)
Trey o’ Hearts (1915) – Serial
The loss of the Birkenhead (1915)
Square Triangle (1915)
The Globe of Death (1915)
The Lancashire Lass (1915)
The Prisoner of the Owls’ Gang (1915)
The Madman’s Secret (1915)
Deeds that won Gallipoli (1915)
Romance of the Seas (1915)
Charlie in the Park (1915)
The Jockey of Death (1915)
The Master Key (1915) – Serial
Florence Nightingale (1915)

The Fortune Hunter (1916)
Golden Wedding (1916)
A New York Millionaire (1916)
The Mystery of Silistria (1916)
Vanity (1916)
Gretna Green (1916)
Copper (1916)
For Cash (1916)
The Black Box (1916) – Serial
As Ye Sow (1916)
The Lure of the West (1916)
The Flight of a Night Bird (1916)
Snowburner (1916)
Great Silence (1916)
The Pit (1916)
Vultures of London (1916)
Wildfire (1916)
The Pine’s Revenge (1916)
Britain Prepared (1916)
The Purple Iris (1916) – Serial
His Real Character (1916)
The Broken Coin (1916) – Serial
The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell (1916)
Back to Life (1916)
His Substitute (1916)
Her Hidden Past (1916)
The Man from Argentine (1916)
The Blindness of Devotion (1916)
The Plunderer (1916)
A Wife’s Sacrifice (1916)
Ambition (1916)
The Big Push (1916)

The Yaqui (1917)
Romeo and Juliet (1917)
The Daughter of the Gods (1917)
Peg o’ the Ring (1917) – Serial
The Woman who took the wrong road (1917)
When Kings Meet (1917)
Why Britain went to War (1917)

Swimming the Bristol Channel (1918)
Who is No. 1? (1918) – Serial
The Spy (1918)

1919

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1919)

1925

A Boy of Flanders (1925)
Man Who Fights Alone (1925)
The Love Bandit (1925)
The Understudy (1925)
Green As Grass (1925)
Nerve Tonic (1925)
Feet of Clay (1925)
The Heart Buster (1925)
Forbidden Paradise (1925)
The Story Without A Name (1925)
The Fool’s Awakening (1925)
Stay Single (1925)
Safety Last (1925)
Women Men Marry (1925)
Hot Water (1925)
English Gazette (1925)
Wanderer of the Wasteland (1925)
You Can’t Get Away With It (1925)
Getting Gerties Goat (1925)
Travel – Gazette (1925)
Frivolous Sal (1925)
Darwin was Right (1925)
Her Bull and Chain (1925)
Sinners in Heaven (1925)
Don’t Doubt Your Husband (1925)
The Dumb King (1925)
A Thief of Paradise (1925)
In Love with Love (1925)
Mysterious Stranger (1925)
Inez from Hollywood (1925)
Winner Take All (1925)
The City That Never Sleeps (1925)
One Night in Rome (1925)
A Fishy Tale (1925)
Radio Riot (1925)
The Hill Billy (1925)
The Man Who Came Back (1925)
Pie Eyed (1925)
Monsieur Beaucaire (1925)
The Diving Fools (1925)
As Man Desires (1925)
The Desert Outlaw (1925)
Dorothy Vernon (1925)
Haddon Hall (1925)
Shooting of Dan McGrew (1925)
Worldly Goods (1925)
Bright Lights  (1925)
King of the Wild Horses
The Broad Road
Wages of Virtue
Women who Give
Savage Love
Unseeing Eyes
My Husband’s Wives
Deep Sea Panic
Battling Bunyan
The Parasite
Flip Flops
Richard the Lion Hearted
Gerald Granston’s Lady
The Garden of Weeds
Court Plaster (1925)

1926

Miss Bluebeard
Thy Name Is Woman
High Gear
Hold Your Breath
Bad Company
Soul Fire
King of the Turf
Contraband
Corn Fed
The Thundering Herd
The Sleepwalker
Through the Dark
Curly Top
Girl Shy
Top of the World
Empty Hearts
Oh, what a Flirt
The Spoilers
Gold Heels
Adventure
Circe, The Enchantress
Somewhere in Wrong
Havoc Havoc
Sky Jumper
In A China Shop
New Lives For Old
Men and Women
Name the Man
Teeth
Little Robinson Crusoe
The Truthful Liar
The Shock Punch
Salome of the Tenements
Secrets
Making of O’Malley
The Fool
Quo Vadis
Code of the West
Sackcloth & Scarlet
Welcome Home
North of Nome
Paths to Paradise
The Little French Girl
Madame Sans Gene
The Rainbow Trail
Old Home Week
Wild Horse Mesa
Champion of Lost Causes
The Pace That Thrills
The Painted Lady
Eve’s Secret
Claude Duval
Sally of the Sawdust
Star Dust Trail
Lost — A Wife
The Woman who Obeyed
The Spaniard
I’ Pagliacci
The Gold Rush
Brothers under the Skin
Beautiful City
The Lucky Horse Shoe
Scaramouche
A Woman of Paris
The Splendid Road
The Trouble With Wives
The Sky Raider
The Scarlet Saint
The Trail Raider
Peter Vernon’s Silence
When the Door Opened
Prince Royal — The Marvel Dog
The Seven Keys to Baldpate
Brown Sugar
The Street of Forgotten Men
Oh! You Tony
New Brooms
The Shiny Adventure
Lovers in Quarantine
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Love and Sacrifice
The Everlasting Whisper
The Dark Angel
The Sting of the Lash
The New Commandment
Tony Runs Wild
Wild Justice
Memory Lane
Irish Luck
The Faithful Heart
Lord Tim
Merton of the Movies
The Pony Express
The Best Bad Man
The Iron Horse

1927

Hell’s 400
Ransom’s Folly
A Lost Lady
Riders of Mystery
Ella Cinders
High Steppers
If Marriage Fails
Torrent
Happy Ending
Wandering Fires
Say It Again
The Girl Who Wouldn’t Work
The Shamrock Handicap
The Sporting Lover
His Majesty Bunker Bean
The Greater Glory
Early to Wed
Born to the West
Volcano
Beau Geste
Irene
A Man Four Square
Beggar’s on Horseback
Fascinating Youth
The Duchess of Buffalo
Honesty the Best Policy
Love’s Whirlpool
Blue Streak
Tin Gods
Queen O’ Diamonds
The Great Deception
More Pay, Less Work
Sea Horses
The Bat
Syncopating Sue
The Canadian
The Traffic Cop
Manhattan Madness
So’s Your Old Man
The Dixie Merchant
The Blonde Saint
Stranded in Paris
The Mysterious Stranger
Desert Gold
Forever After
London
Sir Lumberjack
White Black Sheep
Night Patrol
Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em
The Isle of Hope
Just Another Blonde
Madam Behave
We’re in the Navy now
You Never Know Women
Midnight Lovers
Flashing Spurs
M’Selle Modiste
The Lily
Paradise for Two
Twinkletoes
Braveheart
The Perfect Sap
The Futurity Winner
The Mysterious Rider
The Great Gatsby
Graustark
Whispering Smith
The Son of the Sheik
Let it Rain
McFadden’s Flats
When Love Comes
Sparrows
God Gave Me 20 Cents
The Notorious Lady
The Lightning Rider
Cradle Snatchers
Stage Madness
Orchids and Ermine
The Telephone Girl
Winning of Barbara Worth
All Aboard
Without Mercy
Too many Crooks
The Timid Terror

1928

Three Hours
One Increasing Purpose
Afraid to Love
The College Boob
The Girl of Paris
Variety

1937

The Last Gentleman
Toll of the Road
White Death
Country Beyond
Sweet Surrender
Roadhouse
The Clairvoyant
Fury
She Shall Have Music
Dýe Ken John Peel
Laddie
Tough Guy

November 2 2019

Australians who tuned into 60 Minutes last Sunday night got a good look at what was happening concerning the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

They saw areas of the Murray full, they saw forests flooded with water and then they saw farms with not enough water to keep crops alive and without enough water there is no income and no jobs and whole towns face devastation as various industries are impacted by departing farmers etc.

Everyone knows that we need forests to be at their best as they need to provide oxygen for this planet of ours as well as other resources and everyone knows that the world needs food and that includes both humans and animals around the world.

There has got to be some form of compromise where the environment can be looked after, the rivers be at a sustainable height and the farmers get their fair share of water in their canals, dams and crops.

Country areas have never trusted the Australian Labor Party, it has always been the Liberals and Nationals but now that is beginning to change.

Recent years have seen the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party winning seats in places that the Nationals had an almost impenetrable grip on for example Orange and Murray in NSW.

Country seats decided the 1999 Victorian Election and they also decided the 2010 Federal Election when Independent MPs both sided with the ALP over the Coalition.

The LNP have had chances over the last decade to make a few small changes to balance everything out as the drought goes on but the longer the inaction goes for and the longer the drought goes on for, the smaller the chances of the Liberals and Nationals winning or retaining seats remains.

It is political suicide to continue to ignore the situation, lives are at stake and we’re not talking about livelihoods but real human lives because the drought is killing people as despair overwhelms even the nicest and the toughest of farmers and their families.

4.6mm of rain has fallen today (November 2 2019) on Deniliquin as of 6:45pm but it is not enough, more is needed but the forecast models don’t give much hope of it coming this coming Summer.

As said before, a few small changes can balance everything out and get people going but the Government needs to have the courage to make those changes and right now it doesn’t look like that they’ve got it.

October 29 2019

Deniliquin’s Pokemon Go players are still finding great Pokemon around town including the well sort after range of Shiny Pokemon.

An Omanyte with a CP (combat points) total of 447 was found across the road from the Sushi shop in Cressy Street.

A Polliwag with a CP of 355 was also caught around Deniliquin and this one was rare with perfect ratings for Attack, Defence and HP.

So if you’re looking for Pokemon in Deniliquin or feel like getting back into the game then rest assured that you will find good ones all around town.

Meanwhile there is two and a half weeks before Pokemon Sword and Shield is released, there is great anticipation for this game after the success of Pokemon Let’s Go.

The size of the game is expected to be more than 10GB which is massive compared to the size of Pokemon Lets Go.

That is all for this edition of Deni Pokemon Wrap.

October 25 2019

News came through last night on social media that Purtills was purchased by Dysons (Dysons Group of Companies) who will be commencing runs around December 1 2019.

Dysons are the company that take people to Melbourne on their nice buses though the ride can be pretty long and they have been doing that since 1987 since taking over the run from Ansett Pioneer.

Thousands of locals over the decades have ridden on the Purtills buses with many families seeing the evolution of transport from the small buses to the large ones with all the bells and whistles on them.

We can remember personally during the 1990’s the joy when a bus you were going to or from school was a Coach and the groans when the bus was one with the leather seats, metal bars and no seatbelts.

Those old buses were no fun in the summer especially if your skin touched the metal bars.

A Hussey’s bus was always first (Town bus) but the main event for some was an unofficial race to see which of the main group of buses would arrive first.

Would it be the Tuppal or Moonee Swamp bus that would arrive or would it be a different bus first ensuring that everyone on that particular bus gets home a couple of minutes early than the day before or at least before everyone else waiting for a bus.

There was an advantage of being at North School, kids would get to play longer than the rest until somebody looking to the left would see a bus appear from behind the service station and about to use the roundabout, students would scramble to get to their bus line and those at the front looked to the right to see what bus would pop out from Hyde Street.

Everyone waited until the bus parked (as they do now) before walking over to the bus and then waited for those who were getting off to disembark before getting on the bus, no back rows for the Primary/Public School kids, they had to wait their turn.

For those wondering what is next for Purtills, they’ve got the Fuel Distribution business, their Service Stations, Wired Entertainment plus their Vehicle Hire and Car Wash to run and in 2020 they’ll have The Depot Historic Collection to run too.

Times change and businesses come and go by collapse, purchase or merger and sometimes it is a shame but as mentioned earlier memories will remain thanks to the Depot Historic Collection and countless photographs, articles and more of the buses.