Several of the families mentioned below settled in Carrum in the early 1900s. Other families came to the area for holidays and in due course became permanent residents. However, they all had something in common - a connection to the 'Carrum Cowboys' and for some a shared interest in horses.
Edna and James Jones moved from Malvern to Carrum in 1941. During their first few years in Carrum they operated a poultry farm from their Smith Street property, working long hard hours from day light to dusk. 1949 saw the Jones family move to Walkers Road Carrum, by then James was employed as a builder for A.V. Jennings.
James Jone's mastery in the building industry became evident when he built three houses in Walkers Road. Two of the houses numbered 47 and 49 remain standing until the present day. The bricks that built the house at 49 Walkers Road were hand made by James and his brother in law Frank Vincent using Carrum beach sand. Sadly, in 1949 James died leaving his wife Edna to bring up three young boys all under the age of 7 years - Robert, Jim and Ken.
Edna worked long hours to provide for her young family. She owned two dairy cows that she milked, she also made butter and cream which she sold to locals. Edna never remarried and passed away in 1979. Jim and his older brother Robert married, had families and still live in Carrum. Robert died 2017, younger brother Ken died in Edithvale in 2003. [1]
Ken Jones with some future Carrum Cowboy's, c. late 1950's.
Author:
Carole Ross
Photo Courtesy
Jim Jones
Reference:
1. Ross, C. Interview Jim Jones, March 2010.
Ken Dahlstrom’s grandparents Karl and Hannah and their seven children moved to Carrum in 1932. The family was originally from Sweden and arrived in Australia in about 1928. They settled in Church Road where they established a small chicken farm and grew various vegetables.
In 1939 Karl and Hannah's son, Bror married Elva Aitken they had five children - three boys, Frank, Ken and John and two girls, Thelma and Suzanne. In 1949 Bror and Elva bought land in Stanley Street and Bror built a house for his family. He died at the age of 83 in 1996. Elva lived until she was 90 and passed away in 2008. [1]
Ken Dahlstrom now lives in Seaford. He is married with a grown up family.
Carl & Hannah Dahlstrom, Church Road Carrum,circa 1930's
Carl Dahlstrom tending to his vegetable garden Church Road Carrum. C1936
Bror and Elva Dahlstrom with children lft to rt Ken, Thelma & John. C1950
Author:
Carole Ross
1. Ross C. Interview Thelma Dahlstrom, April 2010.
Photos Courtesy:
Thelma White
Ian Hunter’s family came to Carrum in the early 1920s. In 1923 Ian's widowed great grandmother Mary bought an investment property in Mascot Avenue Carrum. After she passed away the property was inherited by her son David - Ian's grandfather.
David lived in Murrumbeena with his wife and three boys Bill, Bruce and Ted. The Mascot Avenue house became the family holiday residence.
Ian spent his first four years there before his parents Bill and Dorothy moved their family to a new home in True Avenue Carrum.
The Mascot Avenue house remains in the Hunter family, Ian’s uncle Bruce lives there. [1]
Left to right, Bill, Teddy & David Hunter. North side of Patterson River looking West. Houses in back ground Tennyson Street. 1949
True Avenue Carrum, looking North towards river bank. Walters house, McDougall's home behind crop of pine trees. 1949
Author
Carole Ross
Acknowledgements:
1. Ross C. Interview Ian Hunter. July 2010
Photos courtesy
Ian Hunter
Henry Robert Woodward, his wife and eight children moved to Carrum from Walhalla in 1904. Henry had been a butcher in Walhalla during the gold rush days. When he settled in Carrum he bought land established a piggery and opened a butcher shop at the river end of Station Street. Over the years Henry and his sons opened butcher shops in Edithvale, Chelsea, Frankston and Rosebud. By the 1950’s the Woodward family's Nepean Highway Frankston store was said to be the largest butcher shop in the Southern Hemisphere. [1]
The families original abattoir had been opposite Priestley’s farm on McLeod Road on the site of what is now Patterson Lakes Retirement Village. [2] Later a new abattoir was established in Wells Road. Up until the 1960's sheep and cattle destined for Woodward’s slaughter yard were transported to Carrum by rail. The stock were offloaded into railway sidings south of the Carrum train station. From the siding's holding pens livestock would be driven by riders on horseback up McLeod Road and out to the abattoirs. Eddie Laing remembers Harold Stephens was one of the drovers employed by Woodward's he said the stock would be held in Woodward's paddocks.[3] Ian Hunter recalls how on some Sundays he and others would move the sheep and cows from the paddocks and take them to the yards on Wells Road to be drafted for slaughter. [4]
Quite a few of the Carrum Cowboy's often spent time at Woodward’s yards. Robert Woodward erected a corral and a bucking shoot at the Myola Street end of his family's land. It was a popular area for horse riding teenagers, there were steers and wild brumby horses grazing in the adjoining paddocks. The boys would catch them and put them into the bucking shoot and practice their rodeo riding skills. [3] Robert was the grandson of Henry Robert Woodward.
Shepherd's hut, Woodward's Abattoirs. c 1960's
Woodward's paddocks.
Author
Carole Ross
Acknowledgements:
1. Ross C. Interview with Jean Brett, 2009
2. Ross C. Interview Eddie Lang. 2010
3. Ross C. Interview Ian Hunter. 2009
Photos courtesy of:
Ian Hunter
Lang Lang pioneer Alfred Turner Priestley brought his family to Carrum for holidays in 1913. In 1918 he bought 170 pastoral acres of land north and west of the Patterson River operating a dairy farm from its northen side. In 1926 following a discussion with a friend, A.T. Priestley commenced establishing a golf course and clubhouse on the northern side of his farmland, following a storm in 1928 the clubhouse was destroyed by fire. By 1933 a new club house designed by G.B. Oliver had been built, it remains standing to this present day. A.T Priestley leased the property and business to Patterson River Club. He eventually sold it in 1947 for 35 thousand pounds. [1]
Barry’s father Alf had been farming in the Mallee when in about 1936 he decided to move to Carrum and help his father AT Priestley with his farm. To remain independent Alf bought some of his father's land on the southern side of the river. He stayed working on AT’s farm whilst Barry’s mother Jean designed and established the new property.
During 1934 many areas of Victoria were affected by severe flooding. Carrum and the surrounding district were awash. Barry remembers being told of water flooding the golf course and coming into the clubhouse’s first floor. He stated the family unsuccessfully petitioned the necessary authorities to have the floodgates opened. Barry said his father Alf eventually took matters into his own hands and dynamited the river bank blowing out a portion of it. Dynamiting the river bank allowed the water to drain from the flooded golf course and clubhouse into Patterson River. Alf was unsuccessfully sued by the government of the day over it.
1966 the Priestley family after gaining relevant approval were instrumental in establishing a dry dock marina. The farm’s fowl pens were refurbished and became the first man made marina in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1988 the farm was sold to make way for the new suburb of Patterson’s Lakes. [2]
Ken Dahlstrom remembers the first time he rode a horse was at the Priestley family's farm. He said he was about 14 years old when he started going there to help Barry Priestley muck out the chicken sheds . The farm was primarily poultry but there was also 30 dairy cows and numerous crops such as potatoes, corn and cabbages grown. Ken said was hard work, it entailed shovelling all the chicken mess from the sheds, putting it into wheelbarrows and transferring it into the waiting horse drawn spring cart. Later it would be used as fertiliser on the farm's crops.
At the end of their day's work they would go horse riding. Barry rode his stallion 'The Colt' - he had broken him in and was the only person who could ride him, Ken rode Major one of the farm's horses. Patterson River was nearby so they would often go in there with the horses for a swim or ride the them around its tracks. Sometimes they would ride down to Seaford's Crystal Pool for a dip. Ken said the experience was something he never forgot, he said it was a determining factor for him to buy his own horse. [1]
The Golf House, Carrum. c. 1950's
Patterson River behind the Priestley farm. c 1950's.
Author:
Carole Ross.
Reference:
1. Ross C. Interview Ken Dahlstrom, August 2009
2. McGuire Frank, CHELSEA, A Beachside Community, Argyle Press Pty. Ltd. 1985
3. Ross C. Interview Barry Priestley, July, 2009.
Photo Courtesy
Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria, 2010.
The Laing family originally came from Scotland. In 1927 Jock, Jean and their three children, Edward, Finlay and Jean settled in Carrum. They lived in Valetta Street for many years. Jock had working horses and for a time worked for Carrum pioneer G. Whatlely. Jock transported swamp ti-tree by horse and cart to Flemington where it was used for the steeple fences. In addition, Jock and his horses carted sand from Carrum beach to the local glass works, the horses were also used by Chelsea council on its garbage round.
Jock's son Eddie remembers how he and others would ride to school on their horses, he recalls Don Sinclair letting his horse loose in the school ground until home time. Eddie said most of the people he rode horses with had bought them from Dandenong market.
Eddie has memories of many people using horse and buggies as transport around the local area. He said they were used to go to the shops in Carrum and locals would even travel as far as Dandenong market. [1]
Eddie furthered the Laing family involvement with horses by becoming a successful horse trainer. The association with horses has been a Laing family institution with successive generations following in Jock's footprints to the present day.
Eddie Laing, Carrum. 1949
Author
Carole Ross
Acknowledgements:
1. Ross C. Interview Eddie Laing, June 2010
Photo Courtesy of:
Eddie Laing
The Sinclairs were a well known Carrum family who trained race horses. In the early 1920s Reg and Alice Sinclair came to Carrum for their honeymoon. They were impressed and decided to settle there. For years Reg had a race track out on McLeod Road, on the opposite side to Priestley’s farm. The family home was in Tennyson Street. Adjacent to the house was the bullring where race horses could often be seen being put through their paces.
Only child Don rode his pony to school each day and let it loose in the school ground during school hours. Don also had a dairy cow - the local children knew her as Topsy. Little did they know that she was one of a long line of Topsies. The first Topsy had been given to Don when he just a child.
n.b. Every dairy cow that the Sinclairs owned thereafter were given that name.
The Sinclair family trained several winning race horses. Don recalls one of their horses "Soul Star" gave punters great odds when for just 5 shillings they won the tidy sum of 696 pounds. Reg passed away in 1968 and his wife Alice passed away in 1987. Their son Don and his wife live in Bonbeach. [1]
Author
Carole Ross
Acknowledgements
1. Ross C. Interview Don Sinclair. July 2010
Willie Guy, his wife Ruby May nee Kimpton and their three first born children moved from Kensington to the Kimpton's Carrum holiday house in around 1907. The property ran from the corner of Tennyson Street back to the old bridge in McLeod Road. Ruby and Willie raised their nine children there, it became known to the family as 'The Old Ranch'. Willie was a builder and for many years worked for Chelsea council... he was instrumental in building the old McLeod Road bridge. It was known to many of the locals as 'Guy's Bridge'. [1]
Eric was the youngest child born into the Guy family. According to older brother Ivan, Eric had loved horses and had always owned one. Ivan said he and Eric would ride over to Dandenong market on their pushbikes where a horse could be bought for about 17 shillings and sixpence.... sometimes, Ivan said they would be given away for nothing.
By the age of sixteen Eric had a job as a trackwork rider in Sydney, there he worked with the race horse Foxzami, the following year in 1949 Foxzami won the Melbourne Cup. [2]
During the 1950' s Eric kept fox, stag and grey hounds for hunting. Often he and others would go into the swamps and farmland out the back of Carrum and hunt foxes. Eric also played Australian Rules football, at the age of 25 years he was recruited by St Kilda Football Club to play VFL football. He played 91 games for St Kilda and held the position of vice captain for three successive years. [3] Eric passed away in 1991.
Eric Guy with one of his hounds. c 1950's,
Eric Guy
References.
1& 2. Ivan Guy, interviewed by Carole Ross. June 2011
3. Wikepedia, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Guy
During the 1950s William Williams employed several of Carrum's horse riding youths to work in his wrought iron factory in Carnegie. Ken Dahlstrom, Wally Anderson and Bernard (Joe) Shaw all spent some of their early working life there.
William Williams was the fourth of thirteen children born to Erasmus and Elizabeth Williams. Erasmus was Welsh - a blacksmith. Elizabeth had been born in Korrumburra, she was the daughter of an Irish famine orphan who had arrived in Melbourne in the 1840's.
After marriage Erasmus and Elizabeth remained in Korrumburra and raised their growing family. Erasmus owned a blacksmith shop which gave employment to most of his sons .
William married Mary Martin and after the birth of their third child they moved from Korrumburra to Murrumbeena where another four children were born. In 1935 William had a holiday house at 27 Tennyson Street Carrum built for his young family. It was to be the first of the four Tennyson Street homes he had built. To this present day there are still descendants of William Williams living in the street.
The author of this website Carole Ross is the granddaughter of William Williams. She spent her first 17 years living in two of the Tennyson Street Carrum houses her grandfather built. Growing up in Carrum she knew or knew of many of the members of the ‘Original Carrum Cowboys’.
Korrumburra Gun & Boxing Club. c early 1900's. Seated at table left to right Erasmus, Evan and William Williams. Back row, 1st left Jenkin Williams, 6th left Reece Williams.
William Williams & some of the horse shoes he made. 1907