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Leongatha Historical Society

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Leongatha Historical Society

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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Leongatha Historical Society, Nonprofit Organization, 10 McCartin Street, Leongatha.

The Leongatha Historical Society collects, records and preserves the history of the old Woorayl Shire

Office Bearers:
President - Robert Sage
Secretary - Lyn Skillern
Treasurer - Olivia Skillern
Vice Presidents - Kellie Smith, John Hyett

31/10/2026

In World War One on 31 October 1917 the Australian 4th Light Horse charged the town of Beersheba in Palestine. The town was controlled by the Turks who had control of the water wells that were needed by the Australians for their horses. and themselves. At the time the Australians were moving north gradually taking the lands controlled by the Turks. This was the last cavalry charge in history. Trooper Robert Banks of Koonwarra took part in this historic action. Sadly Robert was badly wounded later in the campaign. He was returned to Australia but died in Caulfield Hospital. He has the honour of having a war grave in Leongatha Cemetery. He was 29 when he passed away on 16 October 1918.

30/10/2026

We have come to the end of October and the end of History Month. We hope you have enjoyed the posts about our areas past. And now for the last one of this series.
A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 31
A necessity for all communities is a water supply. Early settlers relied on water from creeks and rain water collected in barrels and iron tanks or wells. By 1905 Leongatha was in great need of a permanent water supply system not just for homes but the butter factory. It was decided to construct a reservoir on Ruby Creek to enable water to be piped to Leongatha. A Leongatha Waterworks Trust was formed to organise this project. The first commissioner was Hugh McCartin and Secretary George Michael, the Woorayl Shire Secretary. It took time but a permanent water supply was established. This has been enlarged with other reservoirs on Ruby Creek constructed over time. The photos are the first reservoir 1906 and laying pipes in McCartin St 1906

30/10/2026

A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 30.
On August 30th 1892 Chicken pox was rife and Leongatha State school attendance was low. By December 1892 whooping cough was the disease in epidemic proportion. Dr Carr asked that any children showing symptoms be excluded from school.
In early October 1893 measles broke out in the home of Mr Brumley 200 yards from the school and measures were taken to reduce the spread of the disease. Teacher, Mr Tom Delving, had a family member affected. He isolated himself from the victim, fumigated himself daily and took to daily open air exercise.Never the less the illness spread. After a few days ten families were affected and in two more days the disease was spreading rapidly around the town.
After nearly two weeks on October 23rd Mr Jeffrey sent a telegram to the Education Department stating that he has been ordered to close the school by the Board of Health. Because of this measles epidemic Mr Jeffery had the school cleaned, disinfected and fumigated under the instructions of Dr Carr. This was able to be done because the school was closed for 1 week on the orders of the Woorayl Shire.
The photos are of Mr Jeffrey and Dr Carr

29/10/2026

A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 29. Famous aviator Sir Charles Kingsford- Smith made several visits to Leongatha in 1931-2. He landed at Sullivan's paddock on Koonwarra Rd opposite the old Drive In site . He gave joy flights of about 10 miles for 10 shilling an adult and 5 shillings a child. This was a large sum for the time especially as there was an economic depression. Crowds gathered at the paddock to see the flights even if they could not go on the plane. Some locals including some members of the Edney family took a light. The photos are of the aeroplane and the advertisment.

28/10/2026

A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 28
A major feature of Leongatha High School, Secondary College and now the Primary school is THE OAK TREE. It was believed to be planted in 1912 by Mr Frank the manager of the High School Farm. He also planted the row a pines that were along the side of the oval which was once a horse paddock. It is an Algerian Oak and has a Victorian Heritage listing. Many generations would have sat under the tree, met under the tree, had assemblies under the tree and much more. Just to stand under it and look up is amazing. As it is no longer surrounded by buildings it has grown even bigger. The photos show the tree in the 90s and a photo looking up hill to the old school 1948 with tree on left and on the right of the school building also 1948.

26/10/2026

A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 27.
Leongatha Agricultural High School started on 6 February 1912. As the school building had yet to be erected the school began in a room at the primary school in Jeffrey St and the Rechabite Hall in Roughead St. The new building officially opened in 1913. The 58 acre site was originally part of the 800 acre Labour Colony. Mr Arthur Mesley was the first headmaster and was responsible for establishing the school and the school farm. Sixty eight students enrolled on that first day. One student there on day one was notable businessman Charley Edney. The school served in entire South Gippsland region with students coming from as far away as Yarram. There was a boarding house for girls on the corner of Horn and Ogilvy Streets and for boys opposite the Catholic Church. The photos are Leongatha High 1913, an uphill view of the school, the girls from the boarding house 1917 and the boys from the boarding house 1927.

26/10/2026

A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 26.
It is hard to image Woorayl Shire being a major onion growing area but it was. The climate and soil were suited to onion growing and the new railway enabled growers to send crops to market. By the early 1900s onions were a major crop. The crop remained important until the 1970s but mechanisation and the need to grow onions on a very large scale to be profitable lead to the decline of onion growing in South Gippsland. The photos tell a story. Photo 1 Dan Spencer of Leongatha North with wife Lily and son Daniel in amongst onions 1907. Photo 2 onion baggers at Boorool. Photo 3 Hoults carting onions Wooreen. Photo 4 Neil Challis on left onion grower Leongatha South 1975

24/10/2026

A Brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 25
Cattle raising and fattening, dairying and associated pig raising developed as the main agricultural activities. The first butter factory in Leongatha was established in Ogilvy Street in 1895 on the site of the Spanish mission style house on the corner of Hassett St and Ogilvy St. Ten years later the new factory was built in Yarragon Road. The cream came into the factory in covered wagons pulled by horses. The factory at one time had 50 horses and stables. Other butter factories were built in Dumbalk, Stony Creek, Tarwin Lower and Ruby. A cheese factory operated for some time at Koonwarra. Pigs were raised using the skim milk and sold at yards in Leongatha and Meeniyan. Most of the pigs went to Dandy Hams in Dandenong. The photos are of an unknown man milking probably at the Leongatha Labour Colony, the second Leongatha butterfactory back view ( building still there) and the cattle yards at Leongatha early 1900s.

24/10/2026

We often get many donations to our collections, big and small but this one takes the cake (and some beautiful custom purpose built shelving).

We would like to formally thank and acknowledge the Giles Family as a whole for this incredible donation of The Great Southern Star Newspapers. These include large leather bound editions from 1964 - 2019 as well as various years of earlier paper bound editions from as far back as 1920.

The large bound copies are now permanently on display and can be used for research purposes by request or on Thursdays & Fridays between 12-4pm.

The more fragile paper bound however will take a little longer to become an avaliable research item as photos will need to be taken page by page and made into a digital resource, as well as an index made of all articles to become searchable. However, while this is being done they can be carefully searched by one of our members if a specific enquiry is needed.

As we are volunteer run this will take time and we ask that you please bear with us while we undertake this project.

If you think this sounds like a wonderful project and something you could help with, we are always looking for volunteers for everyday jobs or specialised projects such as these.

Please contact us at [email protected] to know more.

Once again we would like to give a huge thankyou to The Great Southern Star and most of all the Giles Family for their donation and their contribution to community news and journalism over many years.

23/10/2026

A brief History of Woorayl Shire' Part 24
Mechanics’ Institutes
In most surveyed townships crown land was set aside for the building of a Mechanics’ Institute. These usually took the form of a hall with space for a small library to promote education and community. These halls became an important place for local people to gather. Other Mechanics’ Institutes such as Fairbank also served as a school. Leongatha’s first Mechanics’ Institute opened in 1891. This was on the Memorial Hall site and burnt down in 1924. The present Mechanics’ Institute was built in 1912 and served as a library and meeting space. This building also housed a large billiard room which ran until 1982. From 1983 the Mechanics’ Institute has been the home of the Leongatha Historical Society. The photos are of the Leongatha Mechanics Institute 1912, the Leongatha billiard room 1920 and 1927, the Hallston Hall and children in front of the Fairbank Hall/School 1914.

Address

10 McCartin Street
Leongatha, VIC
3953

Opening Hours

Thursday	12pm - 4pm
Friday	12pm - 4pm

Telephone

0356622492

Website

http://www.leongathahistory.org.au/, https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?id=72053477039

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