Heritage Living Winter 2011 - National Trust of Australia

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Heritage Livingnational TRust of South Australiatrust newsTouring: literary and SA connections at WilcanniaMarcus BeresfordIn the arid western plains ofNSW some 965 km west ofSydney and 700km east fromAdelaide, is the once thrivingtown of Wilcannia, populationAbove: Wilcannia warehouse 760. The Barkindji peoplePhoto: Marcus Beresford now form a majority (54%) ofits inhabitants, but at its peakWilcannia bustled with over 3000 people and wasthe third largest port on the Murray Darling riversystem. In 1887 as many as 222 paddle-steamersdocked in connection with particularly the wooltrade of the region. Resch built his first breweryin the town. By the 1920s, increasing rail and roadtransport and the shift of trade to Broken Hill sawa decline set in. Now the streets of Wilcannia arefull of the romance of decay, although the RiverDarling remains a pulse of natural life, flowingunder the impressive National Trust classifiedbridge (1896), with its centre-lift section to allowthe passage of taller boats.Left to right: Wilcannia Courthouse, Athenaeum Pioneer Museum, WilcanniaPost Office Photos: Marcus BeresfordThe main street parallel with the river includesthe fine local sandstone Post Office (1880),Athenaeum Museum (1883), Police station andresidence (1881) and Courthouse (1880) in therather classical NSW courthouse-style of architectJames Barnet (SA had a more carpenter’s gothiccourthouse-style as exemplified at Goolwa orStrathalbyn). Fascinatingly, this court was thescene of an animal cruelty trial on 25 April 1885,involving Police Magistrate Edward Dickens(writer Charles Dickens’s son, who managed MtMurchison station nearby from 1876-1881 and waslater elected NSW MP) and prosecution witnessFrederick Trollope (son of novelist AnthonyTrollope).Nearby is a very handsome warehouse (1878)which may have belonged to AH Landseer, amerchant pioneer of Milang SA. His companyoperated from 1860 to about 1920 with branchesall along the Murray Darling system includingWilcannia and Morgan SA (where the LocalCouncil-owned AH Landseer warehouse of 1878now forms the Morgan Living History Museum).Albert Henry Landseer was sometimes knownas the “Duke of Milang”, and operated a nowvanished general store, two story warehouse anddwelling, and large flour mill in Milang. In 1873he had a floating dock constructed (reputed tobe the largest in the southern hemisphere) but itwas not a success at Milang and was later movedto Mannum, where it succeeded and is now nearthe location of the National Trust of SA restoredpaddle-steamer Marion (also built originally forLandseer in 1897).Other Landseer boats included the P.S. Bourkefor which the log of a journey from Morgan toKallara (halfway between Wilcannia and Bourkeon the River Darling) can be viewed in the SAState Mortlock Library. Another Landseer boatwas the 117 ton Dispatch which carried up to 60passengers and the Royal Mail across the lakesfrom Milang to Meningie, a key part of an earlyoverland mail route until the 1880s. The Dispatchalso carried a royal visitor across the lakes toCampbell Park homestead on Lake Albert for akangaroo hunt.Landseer was the cousin of British animal painterand sculptor Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73)who modelled the lions at the foot of Nelson’scolumn in Trafalgar Square. In an intriguing twist,page 14
Heritage Livingnational TRust of South Australiatrust newsAustralian author Nancy Cato starts her historicalnovel The Lady Lost in Time (about actual 17 thcentury British portrait painter MaryBeale) with her discovery in 1960 of aforgotten, damaged portrait attributedto Beale in a decaying old 2 storeywarehouse and dwelling at Milang oncebelonging to a Murray Darling Riversmerchant. Was this AH Landseer’s, orwas it simply some fictional device? ANTSA classified Milang Wool Shed datedc1860 was demolished in 1975.Such musings remind of the onceso culturally and economicallyimportant river trade, which the NTSA hopes willbe recognised through its 2011 nomination of theMurray Bridge Historic Transport Hub, a key node inthe river, rail and road transport networks focussedaround the River Murray and Lower Lakes.References:Nancy Cato The Lady Lost in Time (Collins Sydney 1986)Heritage of Australia (Macmillan South Melbourne 1981) p2/281National Trust of SA Register of Historic Buildings 4 th edn 1980Thorne & Collocott (eds) Chambers Biographical Dictionary(Edinburgh 1990)Websites: www.murrayriver.com.au/paddleboats/river-boattrading-milang/;morgan.org.au/html/museum.html; gabr.net.au/archives/ABEO562a.html; flotilla-australia.com/saother.html#;rivermurrayshop.com.au/Paddlesteamers.html; visitoutbacknsw.com/Wilcannia-nsw.html; smh.com.au/travel; postcards-sa.com; WikipediaEvocative Victor Harbor MuseumMarcus BeresfordThe National Trust operated Encounter CoastDiscovery Centre, on Flinders Parade VictorHarbor, offers many interesting insights into thehistory of the area. It is housed in the originalCustoms House, built in 1866 (using stoneballast from sailing ships). This later became theharbour-master’s and railway station-master’sresidence.A professionally constructed display focuses onthe post-European settlement period, althoughthere is a section on the Ngarrindjeri Aborigines.Whaling occurred for a long period beforeformal colonisation and of particular interestis the display of a twisted and coiled harpoon,illustrating one valiant, painful struggle.As an aside, historian JS Cumpston remindswhat a massive industry whaling once was inthe region, in his book Kangaroo Island 1800-36(Roebuck Books Canberra 1986 pp155-74). Inone season, for example, the South AustralianCompany reported an output of 200 tons of oiland 10 tons of bone from its “Black” (SouthernRight) whale fishery at Encounter Bay. This wasvalued at $13,200. The following year (1838) some160 tons of oil was shipped to London, in 1839 itwas 176 tons and in 1840 some 237 tons. By 1841the company’s single whaling party at EncounterBay procured only 134 tons of oil and 6 tons ofbone. The decline in output and profitability wasattributed to “foreign” ships being allowed towhale in the region - it was reported that in 1841there were over 30 such vessels operating in theregion. It is interesting to speculate that if thesingle Encounter Bay operation procured 134tons of oil, presumably 30 ships would have beenprocuring upwards of 4000 tons of oil in that year.As to the numbers of whales involved, one reportin the South Australian Register of 18 June 1836talks of two ships obtaining 400 tons of oil (and170 whales) in one season.The museum display looks at other intriguingmaritime history, and early settlers of the region(including the Newland family whose memberSimpson went on the write the excellent historicalnovel about the whaling era, Paving the Way in1893).The main Customs House includes an interestingdisplay on guest houses of Victor Harbor,underlining the importance of the town as aresort since early days. The phenomenon of guesthouses probably belongs to a past era despitetheir immortalisation in the TV comedy “FawltyTowers”, and the two room display stronglyevokes the atmosphere of a guest house or early20 th century provincial hotel. Elsewhere, superbcradle-backed wooden chairs evoke the building’stime as a railway building, while other roomsallude to its use as a domestic dwelling.In short, the museum captures the essence ofimportant phases in the history of Victor Harbor.Visitors can also pick up excellent Old Port Victorand Victor Harbor Historic Markers Discovery Trailleaflets at the museum and wander around thecentral section of the town and read about otherlocal heritage sights.page 15
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Heritage Living Winter 2011 - National Trust of Australia

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