
By Tony Hughes
GRANTVILLE, how lucky are you to have Don and Irene Wheatley as part of your community!
Not long after Don was born in 1928, his parents, Hubert and Mary, bought one-third of 116 acres of a bush block at the Shunt-Off, Grantville. His younger brother Ted was born in 1936.
Steamers came to both the Queensferry and Grantville jetties to service the sawmills. The early sawmill workers camped in huts on the Grantville beach, presumably travelling to and from work on the sawmill railway.
GRANTVILLE, how lucky are you to have Don and Irene Wheatley as part of your community!
Not long after Don was born in 1928, his parents, Hubert and Mary, bought one-third of 116 acres of a bush block at the Shunt-Off, Grantville. His younger brother Ted was born in 1936.
Steamers came to both the Queensferry and Grantville jetties to service the sawmills. The early sawmill workers camped in huts on the Grantville beach, presumably travelling to and from work on the sawmill railway.

Hubert built a rough three-room home out of bush timber. It had a corrugated iron chimney, a timber block floor, no windows sacks for a door. There was no electricity for lighting or refrigeration and no mains water. When water was short, Don and his dad would fill 44-gallon drums at the local stone quarry on the Almurta road. The quarry can still be clearly seen beside the road.
A spring on the beach to the left of the jetty provided the town with fresh water. The hotel had two wells on top of springs on their property.
With Hubert working in Melbourne, Mary and Don had to fend for themselves for lengthy periods. When Hubert’s parents, Ralph and Emily, came to live with the family, two rooms and an entry alcove were added. The alcove was a huge and very welcome improvement since it stopped the cold South Gippsland wintery westerly winds from blowing straight into the kitchen.
A spring on the beach to the left of the jetty provided the town with fresh water. The hotel had two wells on top of springs on their property.
With Hubert working in Melbourne, Mary and Don had to fend for themselves for lengthy periods. When Hubert’s parents, Ralph and Emily, came to live with the family, two rooms and an entry alcove were added. The alcove was a huge and very welcome improvement since it stopped the cold South Gippsland wintery westerly winds from blowing straight into the kitchen.

As Mary didn’t drive, Don helped with shopping at Len Tilley’s Grantville General Store and Post Office. Bob Bird delivered the bread and a travelling hawker called Shah sold clothes from his horse-drawn wagon. When food ran short, Mary and Don survived on bread and dripping. Mary made and mended their clothes and enjoyed craftwork and knitting. She had a charcoal iron complete with bellows.
They enjoyed fresh eggs when their hens were laying, but there was no house cow as Hubert was certainly no farmer. Mary had an arrangement with the Cumbridges for fresh milk. Don would drop off an empty billy on the way to school and pick it up on the way home. It was a real nuisance trying to lug it home without spilling any. When Cumbridge’s milk was not available, they used powdered milk.
Other goods came by train from Melbourne to Almurta Station. Sometimes the meat was fly-blown and inedible. Don trapped rabbits for fresh meat and still enjoys a good rabbit. One day, he was trying to set a trap in a paddock and it went off, catching his fingers. Not strong enough to release its powerful and painful grip, he walked back to the house and used a lever to get his hand back.
Don walked to school, located near the entrance to the Grantville tip, meeting kids from the Adams Estate along the way. It was a long, tiring walk and a real worry when bushfires were about.
While Don was still young, Hubert replaced the rough timber shack with a new house using recycled timber from the old Westernport Hotel. One day while Don was mucking around at home, a broken beer bottle caused a deep wound in his left foot. Mary pulled the broken glass out, bathed the wound and bandaged it. There was no doctor involved. The only doctor in the district at the time was Dr Sleeman at Wonthaggi.
They enjoyed fresh eggs when their hens were laying, but there was no house cow as Hubert was certainly no farmer. Mary had an arrangement with the Cumbridges for fresh milk. Don would drop off an empty billy on the way to school and pick it up on the way home. It was a real nuisance trying to lug it home without spilling any. When Cumbridge’s milk was not available, they used powdered milk.
Other goods came by train from Melbourne to Almurta Station. Sometimes the meat was fly-blown and inedible. Don trapped rabbits for fresh meat and still enjoys a good rabbit. One day, he was trying to set a trap in a paddock and it went off, catching his fingers. Not strong enough to release its powerful and painful grip, he walked back to the house and used a lever to get his hand back.
Don walked to school, located near the entrance to the Grantville tip, meeting kids from the Adams Estate along the way. It was a long, tiring walk and a real worry when bushfires were about.
While Don was still young, Hubert replaced the rough timber shack with a new house using recycled timber from the old Westernport Hotel. One day while Don was mucking around at home, a broken beer bottle caused a deep wound in his left foot. Mary pulled the broken glass out, bathed the wound and bandaged it. There was no doctor involved. The only doctor in the district at the time was Dr Sleeman at Wonthaggi.
After Hubert showed Don how dangerous detonators were, he tried to warn his mates when they found silver detonators in the quarry. Not heeding his warning, his mates put a match to one leaving Ken Petersen less a finger and thumb, while Don suffered severe ringing in his ears for a while.
Hard work was the order of the day. Don helped his father cut wood into two-foot lengths and packed it into 40 cubic feet lots for the railways. To earn extra money, he sometimes filled two carriages at the Almurta siding. Each carriage took 16 tons or 800 cubic feet of two-foot logs, and he was expected to fill both by himself in a day. He always managed one but not always two. He recalls that it was bloody hard work. Don and his father also cut and sold firewood and posts for the coal mines at Kilcunda and Wonthaggi and piles for the Corinella jetty, and did contract fencing, mainly over winter.
They made charcoal, a hard, dirty job especially during the wet. It was sold to both the Bayles Factory and local truck operators, who used charcoal instead of petrol in their gas producers when fuel was restricted during World War Two. Petrol was rationed to 1 gallon (4.54 litres) a week, kerosene was forbidden to be used for vehicles and primary producers needed a permit to get 40 gallons of fuel for six months. The army put an odorant in their fuel so it would be detected if “acquired”. Away from towns, many found ingenious methods to use kerosene, switching to petrol if they thought they might be detected as burnt kerosene could easily be smelled.
After six years working six days a week at the Glen Forbes Cheese Factory, Don resigned and joined his father clearing timber for two to three years. During this time, he bought an old 21-foot boat called Valda and tried professional fishing as well. The fish were put into fish boxes without ice or refrigeration and sent to the Melbourne Fish Market where they sold for around two pence a pound. When the bay’s fish stocks dropped off, probably due to overfishing, he gave it away.
In 1951 at age 23, Don met “this very nice girl named Irene” on a bus going to the pictures in Wonthaggi. He found her easy to talk to. They fell in love, married in 1953 and went on to raise four strapping boys. Irene worked in the Grantville General Store and Post Office before they married.
In those days, there was very little traffic on the main road which was gravel, no public transport, just a service bus run. Grantville seemed to be too far away from Wonthaggi to get things done. Anderson Hill, which was still gravel in 1951, had trees meeting over the top of the highway.
Over the next 40 years, Don drove a local bus for Freddie Webb, was a night shift test driver at the GMH Proving Grounds in Lang Lang and carted concrete for Donmix in a truck he bought from Johnny Motton. While he was at GMH, he and Irene also bought a 24-foot couta boat and operated fishing charters on Westernport.
The township of Grantville struggled to survive for many years, but through the efforts of the Wheatleys and others, it is now a thriving seaside town with a bright future.
Jimmy Smith the bootmaker (where the BP servo now stands), the Cumbridges, Bob Bird from the bakery and a lot of others would be proud to see it.
Don and Irene are both well, enjoying life and still happy to be part of Grantville’s wonderful community. May they enjoy many more years to come.
This article is based on an interview Don and Irene Wheatley gave to Irene Williams and Tony Hughes in December 2013. A copy of the full interview together with relevant photographs are in the Wonthaggi and District Historical Societies archives.
Hard work was the order of the day. Don helped his father cut wood into two-foot lengths and packed it into 40 cubic feet lots for the railways. To earn extra money, he sometimes filled two carriages at the Almurta siding. Each carriage took 16 tons or 800 cubic feet of two-foot logs, and he was expected to fill both by himself in a day. He always managed one but not always two. He recalls that it was bloody hard work. Don and his father also cut and sold firewood and posts for the coal mines at Kilcunda and Wonthaggi and piles for the Corinella jetty, and did contract fencing, mainly over winter.
They made charcoal, a hard, dirty job especially during the wet. It was sold to both the Bayles Factory and local truck operators, who used charcoal instead of petrol in their gas producers when fuel was restricted during World War Two. Petrol was rationed to 1 gallon (4.54 litres) a week, kerosene was forbidden to be used for vehicles and primary producers needed a permit to get 40 gallons of fuel for six months. The army put an odorant in their fuel so it would be detected if “acquired”. Away from towns, many found ingenious methods to use kerosene, switching to petrol if they thought they might be detected as burnt kerosene could easily be smelled.
After six years working six days a week at the Glen Forbes Cheese Factory, Don resigned and joined his father clearing timber for two to three years. During this time, he bought an old 21-foot boat called Valda and tried professional fishing as well. The fish were put into fish boxes without ice or refrigeration and sent to the Melbourne Fish Market where they sold for around two pence a pound. When the bay’s fish stocks dropped off, probably due to overfishing, he gave it away.
In 1951 at age 23, Don met “this very nice girl named Irene” on a bus going to the pictures in Wonthaggi. He found her easy to talk to. They fell in love, married in 1953 and went on to raise four strapping boys. Irene worked in the Grantville General Store and Post Office before they married.
In those days, there was very little traffic on the main road which was gravel, no public transport, just a service bus run. Grantville seemed to be too far away from Wonthaggi to get things done. Anderson Hill, which was still gravel in 1951, had trees meeting over the top of the highway.
Over the next 40 years, Don drove a local bus for Freddie Webb, was a night shift test driver at the GMH Proving Grounds in Lang Lang and carted concrete for Donmix in a truck he bought from Johnny Motton. While he was at GMH, he and Irene also bought a 24-foot couta boat and operated fishing charters on Westernport.
The township of Grantville struggled to survive for many years, but through the efforts of the Wheatleys and others, it is now a thriving seaside town with a bright future.
Jimmy Smith the bootmaker (where the BP servo now stands), the Cumbridges, Bob Bird from the bakery and a lot of others would be proud to see it.
Don and Irene are both well, enjoying life and still happy to be part of Grantville’s wonderful community. May they enjoy many more years to come.
This article is based on an interview Don and Irene Wheatley gave to Irene Williams and Tony Hughes in December 2013. A copy of the full interview together with relevant photographs are in the Wonthaggi and District Historical Societies archives.
COMMENTS
December 4, 2016
As a long-time resident of The Gurdies/Grantville area, I was very interested to read Tony Hughes’ article on Don and Irene Wheatley and the Grantville they knew growing up. I, for one, learned lots I didn’t know, for instance, that saw millers camped on the Grantville beach and what living conditions were like for residents living in Grantville in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Many thanks to Don and Irene for sharing their stories and to Wonthaggi and District Historical members Tony Hughes and Irene Williams and others for collecting our oral history and also presenting it in such a readable way before it is lost to us.
Meryl Tobin, The Gurdies
December 4, 2016
As a long-time resident of The Gurdies/Grantville area, I was very interested to read Tony Hughes’ article on Don and Irene Wheatley and the Grantville they knew growing up. I, for one, learned lots I didn’t know, for instance, that saw millers camped on the Grantville beach and what living conditions were like for residents living in Grantville in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Many thanks to Don and Irene for sharing their stories and to Wonthaggi and District Historical members Tony Hughes and Irene Williams and others for collecting our oral history and also presenting it in such a readable way before it is lost to us.
Meryl Tobin, The Gurdies