Category Archives: History

Brewery Bottles on eBay

History, News

August 28 2017

There has been a slight resurgence of bottles and posters from the Riverine Brewery Co. being offered on eBay.

Recently a bottle sold for $27 and there is a bottle from around 1910 on offer for $75 before P&H.

Most bottles are sold for around $40 apiece before P&H comes in  which usually comes to around $15.

Those who have some wall space may be interested in this poster, the only downside to it is that it is in Moorabbin and cannot be posted so locals may have to have a road trip or get a friend nearby to help.

The bottle in the picture below has ‘Riverine Brewery Co. Deniliquin’ on the front and below that it has the words ‘This bottle is the property of Elliots Riverine Brewery Co. Deniliquin’.

The bottom of the bottle has a stamp with a C and an M below it, there is a 0 to the right side of the stamp and below that is stamped L458 and finally an M below that and a B2a near that with the 2 backwards.

The difference between the bottle mentioned and the $75 one apart from design is the more expensive version does not have the message about property yet those who love to collect will still jump at it.

Bottles will most likely have cracks and the surface may be roughed up by decades of dirt and other materials but nothing that should wreck the bottle.

We will continue to report on items as they are seen.

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What was the Hartwood Monster?

History, , , , ,

August 22 2017

Throughout time we’ve heard of various monsters and mysterious creatures yet most are sure that all are fictional creatures for example Dr Frankenstein’s Monster, The Loch Ness Monster, the Bunyip, Bigfoot, The Tasmanian Tiger post 1930’s, Fairies and more.

The Hartwood Monster aka the Murray River Monster was a creature spotted in the 1930’s and was described to be six to seven feet long with two flippers, fur covered skin like a possum and eyes like apricots and when it surfaced it blew water out like a Whale.

A few years later the people of Loxton reported a monster but it was apparently an Alligator and later believed it was a Crocodile.

Records available show nothing further happened until 1949 when a creature was found at Hartwood Billabong in Wakool Creek.

In August 1949, two men saw a creature in the water and said it had an estimated 18 inch long neck, was 3ft tall, was fast and it was almost black.

Newspapers were very eager to report that the two witnesses were sober perhaps to justify why this story had taken up inches of column space when monsters are not considered real.

The news was considered so interesting that it was reported as far north as Rockhampton and as far west as Perth.

It was also reported that what was spotted may of been a species of Musk Duck or it was a Seal.

The next month, a man named Bill Stewart from the Globe Hotel accompanied by three other men from the Globe shot a creature 15 times with his shotgun after a chase that lasted half a mile.

The creature was described as ‘a long black object with a squat hooded head’ and when it saw the men approaching attempted escape in a series of dives, reappearing every 80 yards.

A dog was sent in to retrieve the creature but ran off and reportedly wouldn’t go near a body of water again.

The body of the creature was never recovered, if it was a variant of the Musk Duck the unfortunate creature was a thousand kilometres south from its natural habitat, if it was a Seal it is an odd place to find one and if it was an unknown creature, we’ll never know.

Then again, maybe they didn’t get the Hartwood Monster and it is still out there or it didn’t even exist at all making it the stuff of legends.

The Ghost of 1937

History, Humour

August 16 2017

Four years after the story of the ‘Trotting Cob’ was recounted in The Independent, the paper once again reported a ghost story only this time the story was fresh and the incident happened in town.

In January 1937, a white apperition was last seen floating into the Waring Gardens after being spotted standing in the street around the vicinity of the ‘Economic Store’.

The two eyewitnesses who saw this apperition called other locals for help and a search of the gardens provided no clue to what was seen.

It was reported that the two eyewitnesses were sober and so it was not the use of their imagination of the drunken state kind.

Unfortunately the article does not tell more about what was seen in terms of what the ghost looked like, a week later The Independent reported that further inquiries revealed no new clues but many residents believed it was a joke.

Amusingly on the day of the follow up report, there was an ad by Lyceum Pictures advertising the movie ‘The Ghost Goes West‘.

For those into the paranormal, It must be remembered that Old Jack, the people hanged in the now former jail grounds, the half dozen or so deaths that occurred in nearby hotels and others all died in nearby locations and the ghost could of been any of them or it was simply just a 2:30am joke.

EDIT : January 30 2018

For those who like their ghost stories, the economic store mentioned in the report in January 1937 may be referring to the store Rose’s that was situated next to the Primrose Café.

A woman was fatally stabbed outside the Globe decades earlier and a woman died there in 1935, could it be either one of those ladies?

Past railway expansion attempts

History

August 14 2017

There were several attempts at expanding the railway line further into NSW from Deniliquin.

The below listed are some of the attempts or results of attempts at getting such projects off the ground whether through debates or parliamentary measures, as you will see the attempts lasted for several decades.

1883 – Deniliquin to Hay
1886 – Hay to Deniliquin  Tramway
1887 – Hay to Deniliquin Tramway
1888 – Deniliquin to Jerilderie (trial survey)
1890 – Hay to Deniliquin
1900 – Hay to Deniliquin
1902 – Hay to Deniliquin (Discussed by Deniliquin Council, not opposed)
1902 – Jerilderie to Deniliquin (Discussed and favoured by Deniliquin Council)
1911 – Jerilderie to Deniliquin
1914 – Jerilderie to Deniliquin (looked at by Works Committee)
1914 – Finley to Deniliquin (recommended)
1920 – Hay to Deniliquin
1920 – Deniliquin to Tuppal
1920 – Finley to Deniliquin
1921 – Finley to Deniliquin
1926 – Hay to Deniliquin
1927 – Hay to Deniliquin (rejected by Deniliquin Council)
1927 – Finley to Deniliquin
1927 – Jerilderie to Deniliquin
1928 – Deniliquin to Blighty (further reports in 1929)
1929 – Hay to Deniliquin
1951 – Deniliquin to Finley

As impossible as it seems now, back then an extension would not of had encountered buildings like it would now as buildings were still pretty spread out and the area wasn’t as developed.

Assuming the line would of been straight from beside the railway platform, the black line you see in the picture below is how we could of seen the line being extended out of town.

Poicitiers, Whitelock, Cressy, George and Charlotte streets would of had the line run through it before going over the Edward and most likely be at the back end of Edward River Oval and going on its merry way towards Victoria Street and up a short distance before running along the main roads to the destinations.

Once at Finley, the line could then make its way on to Jerilderie.

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Images of Deniliquin

History

August 9 2017

At one time, tourists could pick up a postcard that looked like an envelope and send to their friends and loved ones a series of printed images of Deniliquin.

We are very pleased to be able to show you some of the images from the postcard series, we do apologise if some images appear wonky but that is due to all images being attached to each other limiting the ability to straighten them up.

Deni.jpg
Front cover, a generic one as you can tell by the background with ‘Deniliquin’ added to the picture.

Bridge.jpg
National Bridge, considered dangerous before it was demolished.

Camp.jpg
Camping grounds

Court House.jpgCourt House

Cressy.jpg
Cressy Street, notice just past halfway is the Court House Hotel.

Pool.jpg
When the pool was part of the Edward River.

Tatts.jpg
Tattersall’s Hotel on the left, Ho’s is on the right and the Royal Hotel is deep in the background.

Town Hall 3.jpg
Town Hall when it was crowded on both sides.

Waring Gardens.jpg
Waring Gardens
Memorial.jpg
War Memorial without the WW2 panels.
Weir.jpg
Stevens Weir
Outside Central.jpgNapier Street
Boon
Sheep at ‘Boonoke’

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The back where you can seal it all up and post the lot off.

As you have seen, Deniliquin has changed quite a lot since these pictures were taken, we have a different bridge, the Tattersall’s Hotel and Royal Hotel (end of picture 7) are gone, the War Memorial is different now and there are different shops, different cars and another place to swim now too.

We hope you have enjoyed taking a look at these images and hope that they have brought back memories or have brought interest and curiosity to what was and what will be coming in the future.