In September 1984 Hal Porter died and this memorial edition of ‘Bairnsdale: portrait of an Australian country town’ with a foreword by his editor Tony Barker has been published as a tribute to one of Australia’s most distinguished writers. Anyone who has read ‘The watcher on the cast-iron balcony’ will know that Hal Porter grew up in Bairnsdale. Porter’s ‘Bairnsdale’ is an affectionate portrait of the town and a history of the discovery and development of that part of eastern Gippsland. It hardly needs to be said that ‘Bairnsdale’ is no ordinary local history. From the first chapter, in which the author recalls a birthday outing in 1926 with all the detail his perceptive eye and power of almost total recall provide, the town comes vividly alive. Sights and sounds; shops and shop-keepers; town characters like Billy Fox the dunny man and Father Cremin with his bicycle and a series of dogs all called Barney; entertainers at Payne’s Hall, from visiting celebrities to the home-grown balls and bazaars and concerts and silent films accompanied by Miss Myrtle Morrison at the piano – these are recreated from personal memory. Equally vivid are the accounts of the early explorers and settlers – the Isle of Skye men Angus McMillan and Archibald Macleod, the fake Count and correspondingly fake explorer Strzelecki, the man-of-many-parts Alfred William Howitt, who made a study of the Aborigines – and the gold-seekers, the travelling doctors and clergymen, the storekeepers, publicans, squatters, hop-pickers, schoolteachers, sportsmen, and town councillors; the steamships that plied down the Mitchell River and through the Gippsland Lakes; and a harvest of country town activities and pleasures. Bairnsdale’s changing fortunes are documented against a background of Australia and the world, its inventions and scientific discoveries, wars and revolutions and natural disasters, some of which made little impression on a Victorian country town engrossed in its own affairs; others, like the two world wars and the Depression, which could not be ignored. The story is taken up to the present day, with Bairnsdale a prosperous town having most of the comforts, and blemishes, of a modern affluent society, and the author looking back to a town that seemed in many ways better for the lack of the rewards of progress. Hal Porter’s ‘Bairnsdale’ is essentially history – and eminently readable history at that – but it is also a Hal Porter autobiography, an essay in nostalgia, a sociological study, and a portrait of a typical Australian country town that people anywhere will recognize. The text is illustrated by the author’s own fine pen drawings, a selection of old photographs, and photographs of Bairnsdale as it is today.

CONTENTS:
Foreword to memorial edition 1985 viii. 1: Bairnsdale in the 1920s p1. 2: First comers p52. 3: Settlers and squatters p76. 4: The making of an ideal town p101. 5: First and foremosts p127. 6: Turn of the century p174. 7: The Great War, the Depression, and the thirties p210. 8: The Second World War and after p243. 9: Devolution p264. Index p287.

ILLUSTRATIONS (selected):
Eagle Point Road, with hop kiln at left p6. Cook’s Corner 1918 with end-of-war decorations p8. ‘Kismet’ fancy dress group 1919 with ‘Dol’ Potter p19. G.H. Cole’s, Main Street 1880 p29. Henry Goodenough as police inspector p35. The Mitchell River in flood 1891 p36. Arthur’s carnival dray 1916, in Nicholson Street near present day Dahlsen’s Arcade p39. A rabbit-oh about 1919, with Adelaide Coffee Palace (later Adelaide House) in the background p47. The Backwater about 1927 p48. Angus McMillan with Cobbon Johnny and probably Boy Friday p64. A.W. Howitt p67. Ramahyuck mission station, Lake Wellington (drawing) p74. Archibald Macleod p79. Dr Alexander Arbuckle p84. Bark hut construction p90. Wool dray in Main Street p107. Gold-miners at their workings p115. F.W. Drevermann; William Doherty of Doherty and Bennett’s corner store p126. The east end of Main Street during the 1870 flood p128. Charles Swan’s Store, corner of Main Street and Baily Street, later became Cook’s Corner and below, as Purvis Store 1956 p130. Russell Hosie p131. Hosie’s Commercial Hotel (drawing) p132. Charles Seehusen; J. Fitzgerald blacksmith store, shoeing horse ‘Melancholy Jaques’, includes tailor Steiner 1868 p133. Potter Brothers’ first ironmongery store 1870 p142. Bairnsdale Common (State) School 754 in 1872 p144. Hop-picking in the 1880s p155. Miss Lily Well’s Ladies School, corner of Service Street and Nicholson Street about 1882 p162. Building workers in the 1880s p164. Bairnsdale Brass Band 1890; Dr James Duncan p168. Bairnsdale Railway Station 1900 p169. Main Street 1888; The Mechanics’ Institute 1905 p170. Harry Payne and his first wife p176. Edwin Desailly p177. Jerry Townsend’s house p186. Regatta 1907 p187. The rotunda 1912 p188. Foard’s Drapery Store in 1920 p193. Main Street looking east from the State Savings Bank 1911 p212. The saleyards in 1924 with Bairnsdale High School in the background p239. The ‘Dargo’ and the paddle steamer ‘Tanjil’ at the steamboat wharf in 1887 p256. The wharf today p257.

SURNAMES / FAMILY NAMES from the index:
Adams. Adolf. Ah Chow. Ah Pack. Ah Tong. Ah Yee. Alsop. Allen. Amadio. Anderson. Arbuckle. Archer. Archibald. Arthur. Ashdale-Smith. Atkinson. Attwood. Austin. Bailey. Baker. Balfour. Ballantyne. Balmer. Bankin. Barkly. Barrett. Barry. Bass. Bath. Baudinette. Baulch. Beal. Bean. Bearham. Beaumont. Beckley. Begg. Bell. Bennett. Bertino. Besley. Betts. Bicknell. Bills. Billson. Bird. Bishop. Blandowski. Bode. Boldrewood. Bottoms. Boucher. Bourke. Bowden. Bower. Boxhee. Brazier. Bredt. Brewer. Brindley. Bristow. Brodribb. Brooks. Brown. Brownlee. Brownlow. Buchanan. Buckley. Bug. Buland. Bull. Bulmer. Bunn. Burke. Burnett. Burns. Bush. Cairnholme. Calvert. Cameron. Campbell. Carandini. Carroll. Casey. Castles. Chambers. Chapman. Chong. Christian. Clarey. Clark. Clarke. Clayden. Coates. Cobbon. Cochrane. Coghlan. Cole. Collins. Condon. Confait. Cook. Coster. Coulston. Couniham. Counihan. Coutts. Coverdale. Cox. Cremin. Crooke. Crossley. Cummins. Cunninghame. Curlewis. Curnow. Currey. Curtain. Curtayne. Cutts. Dahlsen. Dana. Danielo. Daniels. Darcy. Davidson. Davis. Dawson. Day. Deam. Dean. Debney. Dedman. Deeming. Delmastro. Dennis. De Petre. De Sailly. Desailly. Dickens. Diddams. Digney. Doherty. Donaldson. Donnelly. Donoghue. Dorrington. Dow. Doyle. Drevermann. Duggan. Dunbar. Duncan. Dwyer. Dyer. Dyers. Easton. Eastwood. Eaton. Edwards. Elz. Ennis. Enright. Evans. Fanning. Feilchenfeld. Ferguson. Fiedler. Field. Fison. Fitzgerald. Fitzpatrick. Fleischer. Flood. Florance. Floriani. Foard. Forrest. Forster. Forsyth. Fox. Franklin. Fraser. Fregon. French. Frencham. Fritsch. Frost. Fyans. Gallienne. Gardiner. Gibb. Gibber. Gibbons. Gilpin. Gilsenan. Glass. Glassford. Glen. Glover. Goodenough. Goodman. Goold. Gordon. Grace. Graham. Grahame. Grainger. Grant. Grieg. Grose. Gruner. Guilfoyle. Guiney. Gutherie. Haarburger. Hagenauer. Hales. Hambrook. Hamer. Hamilton. Hammer. Hammond. Hargreaves. Harris. Hartmann. Hathaway. Haundstrop. Hawdon. Hawke. Hay. Haylock. Hayward. Hearn. Heath. Hegarty. Henderson. Hesse. Hewitt. Hildebrandt. Hobday. Hockey. Hoddinott. Hodge. Holden. Holloway. Holmes. Homan. Hope. Hopetoun. Hopgood. Hopkins. Hosie. Hoskings. Howard. Howitt. Howlett. Hudson. Humphreys. Hungerford. Hutchings. Hutchinson. Hutton. Inches. Irvine. Jackson. James. Jefferson. Jennings. Jillaldeen. Johnson. Johnston. Jones. Keck. Kellow. Kelly. Kent. Kewley. Keyes. Keyte. Kilgour. Kilmartin. Kincaide. King. Kinghorne. Kingston. Kirby. Kirkpatrick. Kirton. Klopper. Knox. Komesaroff. Kraemer. Krahe. Kreefer. Kreymborg. Kroekel. Kyle. Laird. La Gerche. Lane. Langdon. Langley. Latham. La Trobe. Launder. Lawrence. Lawson. Learmonth. Leask. Lee. Legg. Legge. Leonard. Leslie. Lewis. Leyshan. Limpyer. Lind. Lindemann. Lindquist. Lindrum. Linton. Lloyd. Lock. Logan. Loughnan. Lucas. Lyons. Macalister. McAlister. McAlpine. Macarthur. McCallum. McCoy. McCully. McDonald. McEachern. McFarlane. McGhee. McGrath. Macgregor. McKenzie. McKnockiter. Maclean. Macleay. McLennan. Macleod. McLeod. Macmillan. McMillan. Macnamara. McNamara. Maddocks. Maddren. Main. Manifold. Marriott. Marshall. Martin. Mason. Mather. Mathieson. Mawley. Meadows. Medlyn. Meek. Mein. Melba. Mennell. Marrett. Mesley. Metz. Mitchell. Moncrieff. Moon. Mooney. Moore. Moorhouse. Moran. Morecroft. Morgan. Moroney. Morrison. Mosley. Moss. Mott. Mudie. Mueller. Mullany. Muller. Mundy. Muntz. Murphy. Musselwhite. Nash. Neagle. Neal. Neely. Nethercote. Neville. Newcomen. Nicholson. Nielson. Nilsson. Nolan. O’Brien. O’Byrne. O’Connor. O’Doherty. Oliver. Orton. Osborn. Osborne. Overy. Pallot. Palmer. Pascoe. Patching. Patterson. Paul. Payne. Pearson. Peart. Peck. Pedex. Pendergast. Perry. Pettit. Phillips. Piggott. Pincott. Pitt. Platt. Pleasants. Pollard. Porter. Potter. Potton. Poulsen. Powell. Power. Proppe. Pryce. Quinn. Radford. Randall. Rankin. Read. Redenbach. Reedy. Reeves. Reiper. Rheinfell. Rich. Richards. Roberts. Robertson. Robinson. Rodda. Roder. Romanezi. Rosenberg. Royle. Russo. Rylah. Safston. Salter. Sandford. Sargent. Saunders. Schabel. Schaeche. Schaupp. Schimilecke. Schmidt. Scott. Seehusen. Seidewitz. Seymour. Shand. Shannon. Sharp. Sharpe. Shaw. Sheffield. Shuter. Silvester. Simmons. Sims. Slater. Slattery. Slavin. Smith. Somers. Stannage. Stansfield. Stavely. Stein. Stephenson. Stewart. Stirling. Stocks. Stokes. Stopes. Strzelecki. Stubenrauch. Suding. Swan. Syme. Tate. Taylor. Thatcher. Thomas. Thomson. Tierney. Tinsley. Tipping. Todd. Townsend. Treagus. Turnbull. Turner. Twentyman. Twomey. Tyers. Varney. Veal. Vickers. Vincent. Vinge. Vinizilberry. Vogt. Walker. Waller. Wannan. Ward. Warren. Watson. Watt. Waugh. Webb. Webster. Wells. Welsford. West. Wheeldon. Wheen. Whelpton. Whitbourne. White. Wilkinson. Williams. Williamson. Wilmot. Wilson. Winkelmann. Winson. Winter. Wong. Wood. Woodcock. Woodley. Woodward. Wordsworth. Wright. Wyndham. Yates. Yeates. Young. Zeyflert. Zmood.

FULL INDEX available on library computers: Electronic resources \ indexes (alphabetically by name of place).

FROM THE INDEX (Placenames, institutions, etc.):
Abattoirs. Aborigines. Acclimatization Society. Adelaide House. Bairnsdale Advertiser newspaper. Agricultural Show. Ah Pack’s. Albion Hotel. Alcohol consumption. Alpine Expedition. Ambulance. American Bazaar. Anglican Church. Anzac Day. Apex Club. Architects. Athletic Club. Avon River. B.R.C. Hotel. Back-to-Bairnsdale. The Backwater. Badminton. Bailey Street. Bairnsdale: naming of, site discovered, station settled, station life, town formed. Bairnsdale Club. Bairnsdale District Farmers’ Co-operative Company. Bairnsdale House. Bairnsdale Racing Club. Ballarat. Balls. Balmer’s Hill. Barwon Park. The Basin. Bazaars. Bett’s Brick Kiln. Big Garage. Bing Boys Orchestra. Acclimatization of birds. Black Police. Board of Education. Boer War Memorial. Boggy Creek. Boiling-down works. Boisdale. Bookmobiles. Botanical Gardens see Gardens. Amateur boxing. Boy Scouts. Bridges: Calulu, Lind, Mitchell, Railway, Wy Yung. Brodribb Motors. Brothels, prostitutes. Bruden Munjee. Buchan Station. Buchan Caves. Buffaloes’ Lodge. Bugle Band (State School). Building boom. Bullock-drivers. Bulltown. Bullumwaal. Burke and Wills tragedy. Burns, Philp and Company. SS ‘Burrabogie’ (steam ship). Burton and Taylor’s Circus. Bush Fire Brigade. Bushfires. Bushrangers. Bushy Park. Cairnholme. Caledonia Australis. Caledonian Society. Calulu Bridge. Calvert Street. The Camp. Caravan Park. Castlemaine. Cattle-duffers. Cemeteries: first; and 1870 flood; second; war graves. Cemetery Road. Cenotaph. Chamber of Commerce. Chapman’s Private Hotel. Chinese. Chinese Mission Church. Cholera. Choral Society. Christmas. Circuses. Clay bird-shoots. Clergymen, itinerant. Clifton (horse). Clifton Waters Village. Clifton’s Morass. Climate. Clocks, public. ‘Clonmel’ wreck. Clothing, bush and pioneer. Club Hotel (now Orient). Cobb and Co. Coffee mill. Coles Dramatic Players. Colonial Gas Association. Comforts Fund. Commercial Hotel. Community singing. Concerts. Concrete footpaths. Conscription issue. Convicts. Cook’s Corner. Cottage Attic. Country Fire Brigades Board. Country Roads Board. Country Women’s Association (CWA). Cremin Hall. Cremona House. Cricket. Criterion Hotel, Sale. Crooke Street, East Bairsdale. Crooked River. Croquet. Cycling Club. ‘Cygnet’ magazine. Dahlsen and Company. Dahlsen’s Drive-in Auto Port. Dalmahoy Street. Dances. Dancing classes. SS ‘Dargo’. Debating societies. Defence Act 1911. Delvine Park. Depressions: 1890s, 1930s. Develop Victoria Council. Devil’s Pit. Diphtheria. Doctor’s Flat. Dog Hole. Dogs. Doherty and Bennett. Donkin and Doherty. Drains. Dramatic societies, amateur. Drevermann, Cameron and Company. Drevermann’s drinking fountain. Druids’ Lodge. Drunkenness. Duncan and Mason. Dux’s Grand Coffee Palace. E.H. Townsend Memorial Prize. Eagle Point. Education Department. Empire Day. Emu Vale Station. Enlistments, wartime. Evening classes see Schools. ‘Every Week’. Ex-Prisoners of War Association. Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women. F.J. Kyle Memorial Gate. F.J. Kyle’s Bakery and Tea Rooms. False teeth. Ferguson and Mentiplay. Fernbank. Fernham. Field Naturalists Club. Field Sportsmen’s Association. Film Group. Fire Brigade. Fish. Flogging. Flooding Creek see Sale. Floods. Foard’s London House. Football. Football train. ‘For England’ (poem). Forge Creek Road see Cemetery Road. Charlie Marriott’s Fountain. Fox Terrier Racing Club. Francis Street. Freemasons. Friendly societies. Friendly Societies’ Ground. Fruit fly. G.B. Fitzgerald Pty Ltd. G.P. Motors. Botanical Gardens. Geriatric Centre. German Band. German settlers. Gingell’s Club Hotel. Gippsland: exploration; physical features; settlement. Gippsland Company. Gippsland Fresh Food, Ice, Butter Storage and Manufactory Co. Gippsland Lakes. Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club. Gippsland Rabbit Suppression League. SS ‘Gippsland’. Glencoe Station. Gold rush. Golf. Good Luck Creek. Goodman’s Cannery. Goodman’s Choice. Goodman’s Nursery and Orchard. Goon Nure. Grand Terminus Hotel. Granite Rock. Grant Street. Graziers’ Association. Gwandalyn Private Hospital. Hack’s Lindenow Hotel. Handicapped Children’s Centre. Haunted Stream. Hesse Sanitation System. Hides and skins. High School see Schools. Historical Society / Museum. Holloway’s Pills. Honour board. Hop fields. Hop growers. Hop kilns. Horse breeding. Horticultural Society. Hosie’s Commercial Hotel. Hosie’s Mitchell Hotel. Hospital Carnival. Hospitals: public; private. House numbering. House of Blazes. Howitt Park. Howlett’s Dry Cleaning Establishment. Hut-keepers. Ideal Town Contest. Iguana Creek. Immigrants. Imperial Hotel. Infant Welfare. Infantile paralysis. SS ‘J.C.D’. Jackson’s Tannery. Jefferson Street. Junior Chamber of Commerce. Junior Cricket Club. Junior Legacy. ‘Kamilaroi and Kurnai’. Karthaus and Haschka. Kewpies. King and Heath. Knick-knocking. Kurnai tribe of aborigines. Labourer’s Union. Lagoons. Lake King. Lake Tyers. Lake Tyers Mission Station. Lake Victoria. Lake Wellington. Lakeland Butter Factory. Lakes Entrance. Lapidary Club. Latrobe River. Latrobe Wharf, Sale. Leder Motors. Lett and Russell. Libraries: Mechanics’ Institute; regional; book borrowings; film borrowings. Licences: miners’; public houses; stations; stores. Ligar Street. Light Horse Regiment, 13th, 19th. Limits of settlement. Lind Bridge. Lindenow. Lindenow Hotel. Little and Bronson. Little River Forest. Lucknow. Lucknow Hall. Lux Pictures. M.S. Autos Pty Ltd. Macalister River. Macarthur and Company. Macarthur Street. McCulloch Street. McLaughlin’s Flat. A. Maclean and Company. McLennan’s Straits. Macleod’s Morass. McMillan cairns. McMillan Street. McMillan’s Highland Brigade. Madam Conley Company. Main Hotel. Main Street. Marlin Motor Inn. Mary Vale. Mason and Buckley. Mason and Carter. Meat consumption. Mechanics’ Hall. Mechanics’ Institute. Melbourne 1853. Methodist Church see Wesleyan Church. Metung. Mewburn Park. Mitchell River. Mitchell Street. Mitchell Town. Mitchell Valley Course. Mitchell Valley Gardens. Money and money orders. Mooney’s Melbourne Motor Stables. Moroney Street. Motels. Motor car accidents, early. Motor car registrations. Motor cars. Mount Hotham. Mount Howitt. Mount Kosciusko. Mount Lookout. Mount Pleasant Station. Mount Taylor. Mount Townsend. Moving pictures: coloured, silent, talking. Naturalization ceremonies. Neely’s. Neon lighting. New Australians. Newspapers. Nicholson River. Nicholson Street. Nicknames. Nineteen counties. Noah’s Ark. Notre Dame de Sion order. Numbla-Munjee. Ocean Grange. Oddfellow’s Ball. Oddfellow’s Society. Old Harry’s. Omeo. Orbost. Orbost-Bairnsdale Railway. Orient Hotel. Bairnsdale Oval. Palmer’s Sawmill. Paradise. Payne’s Hall. Payne’s Hotel see Main Hotel. Paynesville. ‘The pea pickers’ (novel). Pearson Street. Phillips and Stone. Phillips and Walker. Phoenix Foundry. Photographic Club. Picnic Point. Picnic Point Hall. Pinnock Street. Pioneer attitudes, clothes, habits, letters, medicines. Plumpton coursing. Plymouth Brethren. Polaso Soap. Pole-cutters. Police. Police stations. Polocrosse. Inter-pub Pool Club. Popcorn growing. Population. Port Albert. Post Office. Postal service. Post-and-rail fences. Potter and Roberts. Pound Swamp. Poverty Point. Presbyterian Church see St Andrew’s Church. Prince Regent Theatre see Payne’s Hall. Processions. Public houses. Punt charges. Punt Flat. Mitchell River punt. Purrumbete Station. Purvis for Service. Pyke Street. Quack-Munjee. Quoits, rope. RAAF Revue. Rabbits. Railways. Ramahyuck Mission Station. Ratepayers’ Association. Rationing (Second World War). Raymond Island. Rechabites. Red Cross. Red Legs see Football. Red Shield. Reedy Flat. Regattas. Retail businesses. Returned Soldiers League (RSL). Rifle Club. Riley’s Commercial Hotel. Riverine Street. Riverview Guest House. Roller skating. Rosehill Station. Rotary Club. Rotunda. Rowing Club. Royal Australian Air Force. Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV). Royal Society. Rushcutters. Sale. Saleyards see Stockyards controversy. St Andrew’s Church. St Andrew’s College. St Andrew’s Young Men’s Club. St John the Baptist’s see Anglican Church. St Kilda Road. St Mary’s Church, ceiling. St Mary’s schoolroom. Salt Creek. Salvation Army. Sarsfield. Cape Schanck. School life, 1920s. Schools: Art; Common; Evening; High; West Bairnsdale; Kindergarten; Preparatory; Private; St Mary’s; School of Mines; State; Technical. Scout jamboree. Self-service store. Senior Citizens’ Club. Seventh Day Adventists. Jimmy Sharman boxing troupe. Shepherds. Shipwrecks. Shire Hall. Shooting (sport). Shopboy squatters. Siberia. Silt jetties. Slipyards. Snake Island. Snowy River. Soldier settlement. Spike and Kerton. Squatter exports. Squatters. State Library Service Board. State Public Offices. State School 754 see Schools. Station hands. Station life. Steamers. Stockyards controversy. Stratford. Street lighting. Street names. Struan Gardens. Strzelecki’s Law. Sturt Street, Ballarat. Sun Moon Lee’s jazz band. ‘Sun News-Pictorial’ contest. Supremacy Clothing Factory. Swan Reach. Swift’s Creek. Swimming baths. Talkies. Tallow. Tambo House, Besley’s. Tambo River. The Tannies see Gardens, Botanical. Tea. Technical School see Schools. Temperance Hall. Tennis. Terminus Hotel. Thaxter and Batch. Theatre Royal see Payne’s Hall. Tim the Tinker. Tin kettling. Tobacco. Tobacco growers. Tobin and Bell. Tonic Sol Fa Group. Town characters. Town crier see Fanning, John. Traralgon. Turnbull Street. Turnbull’s General Store. Typhoid. Victoria Gardens see Gardens. Victoria Hotel. Victorian Eastern Development Association. Victory Ball. Victory Carnival. Wages. Walsh, Lionel and Company. War chest. War loans. War savings groups. War work. Warrigal Creek massacre. Warrnambool. Wars: Boer; First World; Second World; Vietnam. Washerwomen. Water supply. Water tower. Waterworks Trust. Wattle-bark. Wesleyan Church. ‘The White Topee’. Williams Parade. Winson’s Foundry. Winson’s Used Cars. Winter and Gerloff. Wishing well. 3 TR Women’s Club. Women’s Land Army. Wood cutters. Wood cutters’ procession. Wood’s Point. Worsley and Mackenzie. Wy Yung. Wy Yung Hotel. X-ray for tuberculosis.