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The town that vanished

2/11/2017

10 Comments

 
PictureThe remains of the Queensferry jetty are a ghostly reminder of a thriving seaside settlement.
If you’d visited Queensferry a century ago, you would have found a seaside settlement with hotels, a licensed colonial wine saloon, three public halls, a store and a series of large and small houses. 

By Libby Skidmore

Queensferry is one of the pioneer towns of Victoria that grew, flourished and then disappeared.

It was developed around the jetty which was another shipping port linking Western Gippsland with Melbourne. The road to Melbourne was very difficult and often impassable, particularly in the region of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. It was cheaper and easier to go by sea. Small ships carried passengers from Queensferry to the western side of Western Port or directly to Melbourne.
 
On a visit to Queensferry a century ago, you would have found a seaside settlement with hotels, a licensed colonial wine saloon, three public halls, a store and a series of large and small houses. You can still see the remains of hearth stones in the paddocks.
 
George McGowan lived in a large two-storey residence on the esplanade and held extravagant parties attended by well-known guests from Melbourne. During one party the house caught fire and was destroyed. McGowan lived out his days in a small cottage built on the same site.
 
The principal cargo leaving Queensferry was timber from the Bass Hills. Much of this was sawn in the mills of Alexander Stewart, who came from Morayshire in Scotland. After various experiences of colonial life in Melbourne and on the goldfields of Ballarat, Stewart reached Queensferry in 1860 with no money, no job, a wife and five children.
 
Ten years later he had become a mill owner. The bullock teams that used to drag the timber from the hills to the shore found the terrain difficult so Stewart built a wooden tram track which ran from the mill down along Queensferry Jetty Road to the shore. Some earthworks can still be seen beside the road.
 
Stewart also built a small steamer the Tyro to transport timber. For its first voyage he loaded it at the Queensferry jetty but the boat sat firmly and solidly on the bottom and would not move until the timber was removed and taken to Bass Landing where the Tyro was reloaded.
 
The mills employed 25 men and 620,000 super feet of timber went out of the area each year. Much of the timber panelling in the early Melbourne buildings came from the Bass Hills.

As the railway line was built in the nearby hills, the little port settlements along the coast ceased to be the centre of commerce and the people moved away.
Picture
1903 Australian handbook
Queensferry had been built on low-lying ground and the last six residents were driven out in the late 1920s when the tide rose to an abnormal height, flooded the houses and inundated most of Queensferry.
 
One woman was rescued by horse and wagon from her perch on the kitchen table.
The flood was not serious but it saturated the land with salt water rendering it useless for several years.
 
Libby Skidmore’s “A Guide to The History and Beauty of the Bass District”  is available from the Bass Valley Historical Society. This essay was first published in “The Waterline News”.  ​
Picture
The Bass River Sawmills, Queensferry. Photographer: Fred Kruger, 1877. Image State Library of Victoria
Picture
The Bass River Sawmills, Queensferry. Wood engraving based on Fred Kruger's photo. It shows timber being transported on a tramway, loaded onto wagons which are pulled by horses; behind the tramway is a steam-powered saw mill belonging to Messrs. Crump and Grant; the houses of the workers are in the background. Image: State Library of Victoria
10 Comments
Meryl Tobin
4/11/2017 10:13:30 am

A fascinating look at early European history in the Queensferry area, Libby. Thank you.

Reply
Warren
5/11/2017 09:48:14 pm

Great article please have more of them on a regular basis

Reply
Pete Raymond
27/3/2019 02:37:30 pm

Amazing story and nicely researched.
There`s similar remains at the mouth of the Bass River which is devoid of trees etc from milling in the 19th century. There is still the remains of a boiler sunk in the mud and after a big rain there`s often old bottles and small pieces of china to be found.
It amazes me that not one picture of Queensferry survives ?
Have looked for over a decade on the net for even one pic but to no avail.

Reply
Margaret Sprawson (nee McCallum)
27/9/2019 02:49:22 pm

How interesting. I lived on a small dairy farm in Queensferry as a child (1934-1942) There are now. holiday cottages where our farm house stood.. Mr Posthelwaite brought our mail from Lang Lang each week along with any orders Mum gave him. Occasionally we walked to Grantville to Mr Smith's general store. This shop smelt wonderful from coffee, tea and sugar in bulk, saddles, pollard and tobacco, chocolate and kerosene.



We had a tank, a wood-fired stove and kerosene lamps. No phone but a wireless powered by a car battery. The wash-house was outside, a good distance from the house.

Dad hand-milked the cows- only about sixteen of them, I think, plus chooks and a few pigs. To make ends meet Dad cut ti-tree and sold the trunks for clothes props. He also trapped rabbits, skinned them, stretched and dried them, then they were sold.

When I was small there was a school in Queensferry but that site became a rubbish tip. By the time I started school I had to walk to Grantville. The corner where the school stood now has traffic lights. Most of the other children walked too though Mary, who came from Tenby, rode a horse, which was tethered in the school paddock. My first teacher was Mr Sarsfield. He gave me a copy book in which I made rows of hooks, and a slate for making drawings. Nine classes, from Prep to Grade eight shared the room and the teacher. The teacher had a residence at the back of the school. Mr Sarsfield organised an outing for us- a day at Cowes. It was such an adventure, travelling on forms in the back of a furniture van. Most of us had never been in a motor vehicle before!

Mrs Wells organised a school concert, held in the hall and a bonfire night which the most excitement we had ever had.

My parents decided their children needed better educational opportunities so we moved away from the beautiful bush and the beach and lived for many years in Pascoe Vale. But I remember my days at Queensferry very vividly and am so glad I started life there.
My next teacher was Mrs Wells.

Reply
Donna Kelly
13/2/2022 02:58:17 pm

Thank you so very much for your written memories.
I really enjoyed reading this and appreciate your contribution to our local community history ❤️

Reply
Robert Stewart
2/4/2020 10:57:58 pm

Thanks Libby, for a fascinating insight.
Alexander Stewart was my great grandfather.

Reply
Darlene Stillwell
13/10/2021 10:33:54 pm

Im wondering if there is more history - even a photo - on the Pier? Thanks

Reply
Catherine Watson
16/10/2021 10:04:11 am

Hi Darlene
There is a bit more information here:

https://www.grantvillehistory.com.au/blog/?queensferry-the-town-that-vanished

Reply
Pete
14/10/2021 08:03:46 pm

It's now 2021 and I still can't find any pictures.
You would think surely there's a pic or two out there of poor old Queensferry ?

Reply
Garry ‘Moz’ Wilson
1/11/2022 09:09:55 pm

Thanks Libby.
My grandfather Hector Raymond McKenzie was born at Queensferry in 1911.
Had done a stint on the railways when older and then purchased a farm at Glen Forbes where my mum was born in 1937.
Cheers!

Reply



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