I attended Paynesville Primary School from 1990 until 1997. It's been a big part in my life, and a big part in Paynesville's history.

Paynesville is a small town on the south-east coast of Australia. The idea of a school in Paynesville first came around in May 1897, but there was no report put forward to the Education Department until January 1880. At the time there were only twenty two children living in Paynesville and only nine of those twenty two were old enough to go to school.The District Inspector, Mr Thomas Hepburn, didn't think that there were enough to open a school in Paynesville, but Mr Hepburn did say that if a school was needed in the future, he would put it forward to the Education Department.

(The children of Paynesville did have some sort of education, because Miss Cathrine Dingy was teaching at her home.)In March 1880, another report was put forward to the Education Department by Mr Hepburn. He stated that there were now enough children in Paynesville to open up a state school. The land set for the school was about one acre.On September the 23rd, a portable building was shipped from Melbourne to Paynesville in pieces. The estimated date of the school's completion was December the 1st 1880 Paynesville Primary School first opened on January the 1st 1881 at Newlands Drive Paynesville. There was only one classroom, and only 42 students.

The school's first general inspection was in July 1881. It went very well, with the report being - Discipline: good, buildings: in order, and 36 children present on the day. The District Inspector also stated that a fifth class would be introduced as soon as possible. (There were only 4 classes at the time.)Since Paynesville P.S. first opened, it has been 116 years. Around 10 years ago, the Department of Education decided that it was time to build a new and improved school in Paynesville.They also started making plans for the new school. Soon after, the Department of Education and the Victorian Government withdrew the building of the new school from their agenda.

Between then and two years ago, there were a lot of protests and community fundraising for the new school. The Minister of Education again promised Paynesville that they would build a new school. He then broke his promise again. With a lot of hard work from the teachers, parents and comunity,it was finally confirmed that a new school would be built in Paynesville.The building started over the summer holidays of 1997 and 1998. The set date of completion is 2 days before the term 3 holidays start at Paynesville.

P.S. The portable buildings at the school will be shifted around East Gippsland to other schools. The new Paynesville Primary School will open on the first day of 4th term in 1998. (We Hope.)

By Anna-Liese Mostard.

My nan lived in Egypt for 3 years. She was 30 years old and had a husband. Her name was Doris Skilton and her husband's name was Herbet Skilton.She and her husband lived in a flat facing the sea. They could walk across a bridge to a place called Jofick, over there, there was a nice green bank where you could watch the liners go by;you could talk to the people on board.

Jofick was a nice village, mostly French people lived there working at the oil rigs. She and her husband spent most of their time looking around Egypt. Lots of Greek people lived there in Zuezes. Many married Arab people. Lots of arabs were poor, yet some are rich too. Lots get jobs from the army and air forces.It rarely rains and you can plan a picnic ahead of time and not have it ruined by rain. There are shops of many kinds; there was a fish market,but they liked the carpet market the most.

In the field they use oxen to plough with. Most men wore Galitoions,the women wore long black frocks and a face cover, not every one did. She and her husband enjoyed living their and they have lots of good memories.

WEAPONS-The weapons they used in war ranged from bows and arrows to swords, daggers and axes. But Egyptians preferred peace than war.

JEWELLERY-Jewellery was worn by men and women. The Egyptions wore scarab beetle medals on their necklaces for good luck. The scarab represents sun god; the beetle rolls the sun into the sky in the morning and rolls it back down in the evening.

HIEROGLYPHICS-Hieroglyphics were the ancient Egyptian form of writing; Hieroglyphics mean sacred carvings

PYRAMIDS-Pyramids are wonders of the Egyptian time. The largest pyramid is the great pyramid; it is 146m high.

EGYPTIAN MARKETS AND MONEY-In the market they sold lots of vegetables, fruit, meats and drinks. They did not use money until very late in their history. They used to swap and make deals instead.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS-Some of the instruments the Egyptians used are the reed flute,wooden flute, bells, crotals, sistrum and harps.

TOOLS-Egyptian tools include the axe, chisel, saw, bow drill, stone mallet, awl and adze.

ADAM MARK SKILTON

The first ferry arrived in Paynesville in the 1890's from Bairnsdale. It was used to take horse and buggy across the Mitchell River, before the bridge was built. It was lefton the river bank for a while then taken to Paynesville.

THE SECOND FERRY

The second ferry started running in 1903. Itcarried two horses and buggies. The ferry was connected to a chain which two strong men pulled. In the 1950s a shelter and a motor were added. The ferry carried three small cars, ortwo big ones. A man brought a new car. A week later the ferry was moored. The man drove his new car onto the ferry, then went back to talk to some friends and then the ferry sank and the roof of his new car was just sticking out of the water.

THE THIRD FERRY

The third was moved up to MacMillans Strait.The ferry carried 8 cars, and was built in the 1960s. With the heavy motor the ferry occasionally broke awayfrom the chain, and floated down the straits. It also broke down a lot. In the 1980s it was extended and carried twelve cars. It is now at Lakes Entrance.

THE FOURTH FERRY

The fourth ferry was built at Port Welshpool; it was moved to Paynesville by sea with the of barges, and entered into the lake through Lakes Entrance. This ferry is large enough to carry twenty one cars and lots of people. This new ferry ran longer hours and didn't have many engine problems. The other ferries had no fees but the new one had a $2.00 fee for cars $4.00 for trucks under 6 metres long $6.00 for over 6 metres long, and $12.00 for trucks with chemicals.

Ben Lee

One of the things Eagle Point is most well known for is its silt jetties. Silt jetties are formed because of a flood. As the flood sweeps down stream it breaks down the banks and carries the dirt along. When it gets to a river or lake the dirt or silt drops and over the years forms a jetty.

In the 1980s a bridge was built so that people could truck loads of rock and stone onto the island. They did this to put a stop to the eroding banks.The bridge was demolished by a flood. It was swept away so it is not there anymore.

In Eagle Point there is a nature reserve. In the past there was a footballoval, a tip and a race track. Now instead of a footy oval there is a swamp in its place. There is also a scout hall and some dams inside. A lot of animals such as kangaroos, possums, wombats and wallabies live in the reserve.

Eagle Point also has a school. My mum attended it in grade 6. It is stillopen now and about 39 and a half children attend.

Eagle Point has been a big part in many peoples' lives. Let's hope it's history lives on.

By Ebony Zee

The L.E.Giles and Sons butchering business in Trafalgar was first started in 1946 by Lavinia Edna and Morris Giles. Their butcher shop was a two man shop in the main street of Trafalgar. Ray, Ken, Colin and Windsor, the four sons of Morris and Lavinia, all worked in this family business and Ray and Colinstill do, they are the fifth generation. Back then the meat would have to be transported to the market by horse and dray and would take about 20-30 minutes.The original butcher shop was knocked down in about 1975 when the Princes highway came though Trafalgar. Since then the L.E.Giles and sons have built a shopping mall called the L.E.Giles Mall which includes a: Fish'n'Chip shop, a Florist, a Bakery, a Butcher shop, a Hairdresser and a Fruit'n'Veg. This mall is situated on 3 Contingent Street Trafalgar.

The L.E.Giles and Sons have health approved abbatoirs which is situated on Giles road. This abbatoirs has its own holding yards, three meat trucks and dogs to work sheep. They also have 70 breeding sows, 6 boars and buy pigs from 15 different local breeders. The abattoirs is set on about 20 acres of land and employs about 25-30 people. They do contract killing for places like Coles and New World store, they also supply meat to more than 50 outlets ranging from Bunyip to Bairnsdale, including 4 Giles shops inTrafalgar, Moe, Morwell.

The different meats L.E.Giles and sons buy come from different places suchas: the cows they buy can come from places like: local farmers, Korumburra,Yarram, Sale, Hayfield, Dandinong, Warrugal, Trafalgar, Taralgon and Bairnsdale. Lambs can come from: Bairnsdale, Sale, Taralgon, Thorpdale and Wagga Wagga. Pigs can come from Ballarat.

The weekly kill is about 1000 lambs, 150 beef and 250 to 300 pigs, with the hourly kill rate at 90 lambs, 20 cattle and 45 pigs. The L.E.Giles and Sons3 delivery trucks are a familiar sight throughout Gippsland in the early mornings.

GILES L.E AND SONS

By Jessica Giles

Sixty-seven years ago my Nan was born, in Bairnsdale. She moved to Bruthen around 50 years ago and is still living here. Nan went to Lucknow school for 7 years. Nan left school because her mother was ill and she had to look after her younger brother and sister.

In Nan's family there were 13 children. Nan meet Pop at a dance in Bairnsdale and they were together for 43 years when pop died; it would have been 50 years this year. Nan lived in a tent at one of the mills, then later moved into a mill house. She used to cook for the single mill workers, in a big mess tent. Pop was one of the workers. When the mill closed Nan stayed in Bruthen because Pop was driving log truck so it didn't make any difference to them. By then Nan had had 7 kids, 6 boys and 1 girl.

Nan can remember that the soils along the flats were the richest in the world. The steam boats used to dock at the wharf at Mossiface. It was quite a large river then. There were also 4 saw mills that have now closed down. Also a doctor's surgery and a chemist in the main street of Bruthen. Now there's not much in Bruthen, but years ago I think a lot of people came to work in the mills and farms. Now I think it is because it's a nice place people to retire in or bring up a family. Nan thinks that Bruthen has a bit of everything, close to the snow, beach and Bairnsdale and the wonderful bush.

Nan also said that she would never move from Bruthen.

By Abbey Hooton

Lindenow Primary School opened in 1871 and has been running for nearly 127 years. In 1996 the school celebrated 125 years to be proud of our school and show how long it has been running.

Lindenow is a small town near Bairnsdale in South east Australia. When the school first opened there was only one building but as the years went on more buildings were built and now the school has ten buildings.

In 1983-1987 the Princpal was Colin Hudson until the new principal came and his name was Willaim Cleverly and he became principal in 1988.

Since 1871 the uniform has always been blue tracksuit and a white or blue t-shirt with a collar with the school logo on it but you could just have a plain white or blue t-shirt with or without a collar and the uniform is not compulsory yet.

In 1971 there was omly one teacher and there were forty seven children compared to in 1996 to now: nine teachers and a full time secretary and one hundred and fifty children.Mr Selwyn has been principal at the school since 1992 and is still the principal now and I think he won't give that up too quickly. The oldest building at school is Wy-Yung and we call it Wy-Yung because it used to be the Wy-Yung school. It is the biggest building in the school so the biggest class get it and that is usually the grade fives and sixes who get that room.

In 1994 or 1995 a new area was extended onto the school school so that the children had a area to kick balls and play kicking games because a rule the teachers made is that we are not allowed to play kicking games next to buildings because too many windows were getting broken and too many balls went up on the roofs.

By Suzanne Dorsman.

For people unfamiliar with the Omeo District, the titles"Livingstone Creek" and "Omeo" are synonymous. The town of Omeo, in Northern Gippsland, sprang up in the gold rush period in the middle of the last century and, in those days, it was known under both names. (Benambra is a part of the Omeo District.) My great, great, great, great grandfather was a Slone. This is the story of when he and his family and James and Caleb White set out over Mt Hotham .....Prior to 1875, Mr. and Mrs. Sloan, with James and Caleb White, came on horseback over the top of Mt Hotham, and along the old packhorse track. On the front of his saddle, Mr. James White carried the Slone's smalldaughter, Mary Jane.

There goods were brought in by packhorse, and the driver of thestring missed the track and arrived a day late, which caused considerable inconvenince to the campers. When they arrived at their selection on the northen side of Lake Omeo, at the of Murphs Forest, the Slones erected a canvas house which laterwas reinforced by slabs on the outside. Mr. Slone later built a new wooden home for himself and his famly. This home, still known as Forestside now belongs to one of the daughters who married W.J. Hollonds. He also sank a well which still supplies beautiful water. It is a very deep one and is situated conveniently for household purpose. Wild cats used to play havoc at night in the poultry yard, killing many of the birds. These raids were difficult to combat. At that time the Lake was full of water, the deepest part being about ten feet. Mr. Slone constructed the first yacht to be sailed there. Lake Omeo is now dry and fillsup every 15 to 20 years but will never get very deep.Mr. and Mrs. Slone reared a large family in the district, several of whom married and remained on the Omeo Plains.

The main industries in Benambra have been the Flour Mill, the Sawmill, the Butter Factory, the Bucher Shop and most recently the Benambra Copper and Zinc Mine. It closed down in 1995 and my father lost his job.There has also been gold mining in the Omeo District.I used to have a great grandfather Lindsay (Mick) Matthews and this is one of the stories that happened when he was at school ......

During the time when the school 2720 was held in the little church, and the teacher was Mr. Waterhouse, Mick was sent to school, as the lady teacher at Benambra couldn't control him. If Mick decided that he didn't want to do something, well, he didn't do it. But it was different when he came to Statt School 2720. Mr Waterhouse possessed powers of persuasion.

The school sports were in full swing at Hinnomunjie, and Mr. Waterhouse had entered Mick in the one hundred yards race. Mick was a first class athlete; but he said,"I don't want to run, and I wont; and if you make me, I'll run last." So they all lined up for the start of the big race, and Mr.Waterhouse stood behind Mick in his lane. At the starters gun, Mick got an unholy wallop across the backside from the cane. He won easily.

Bianca Yarwood

One of Paynesville's historical places is the Paynesville Hotel. The Paynesville Hotel, now known as the Old Pub, was established about 1880 and was a single storey weatherboard-lined building.

A double storey brick building was completed around the 1890s. In the late 1940s a wooden extension was constructed at the end of the building to provide for overnight stayers.

Over the years alterations to the building have included renovations to the main bar,a bistro,, dining room and TAB betting facilities. The wooden extension of the building was destroyed by fire in 1955 but the two storey brick building was saved from major damage.

PIER HOTEL

The current site of the ferry cafe was originally the Pier Hotel built in1882. The hotel had 14 seperate rooms and was very popular. De-licenced in 1893, it was later renovated into a building for private residence. In the 1920s it was transformed into a guest house and tea rooms and was renamed the Swansea House. The crews from the RAAF Crash boats stayed at the guest house during the second World War. Sold and renovated in 1965, the building was transformed into three seperate shops including the Ferry Cafe,Paynesville Seafoods and Toonalook Hardware.

PAYNESVILLE FIRE BRIGADE

The Paynesville Rural Fire Brigade was formed in 1940. In 1944 they got there first tanker. In 1957 a station was erected in Wellington St, Paynesville. A new fire station was built at the site on Wellington ST and was opened in 1983.

UNITING CHURCH

The Uniting church is Paynesville's first church and was built in 1885 for the Methodists. At the time it was Paynesville's only church building and was used by all. The old Calulu Methodists church was re-erected on the current site in 1953.

PAYNESVILLE BOWLS CLUB

The Paynesville Progress Assosiation formed the first Bowls Club in 1965. Rinks were opened in 1966 at the holiday home of Bob Sexton in Langford Pde. The new greens opened in 1967 at the same site. The clubrooms were opened in 1968 and extended in 1981. In 1979 new greens were opened. In 1994 synthetic greens wre laid in a new site, Ashley St.

PAYNESVILLE CEMETARY

A cemetary was layed out for Paynesville in 1886 and was not uncleared until 1884 when the Shire of Bairnsdale took it over. The Bairnsdale Cemetary was the district's main cemetery. The first burial was in 1987; it was three months old William Tucker.

PAYNESVILLE SCHOOL.

The first School in Paynesville was known to be in a hollow tree and the students were taught by Miss A Digney. The next school was a portable class room and was erected on the opposite side of Newlands drive. Four years later a bigger school was built on the same site in 1914. The school remained a one teacher school with Miss A. Digney until the late 1940s and has grown steadily to a enrolment of 281 pupils, 13 staff with 11 classrooms.

PAYNESVILLE PROGRESS.

The Progress jetty was formed by the Paynesville Progress Assosiation. The jetty was upgraded in the early 1990s following public demand.

By Genevieve Handley

The discovery of brown coal in the Latrobe Valley area was around 1886. Its discovers were Henry Godridge and William Tulloch. They believed that they were the largest deposits in the world,and the world's greatest concentrations of broun coal of 57,000 million tonnes.The Latrobe Valley coal fields produce most of Victoria's electricity as well as a million tonnes of briquettes each year for use in homes and industry. In February 1921 the first horse-drawn ploughs turned the first sod on the site of the first Yallourn power station. Later, steam shovels began cleaning the soil to uncover the coal.

Three years later power began flowing down the transmission lines to Melbourne. In the old days they used horse-drawn rail trucks to take the coal on to the conveyor belts to take the coal to the power stations. Bucket wheel dredgers up to 12 stories high and bucket chain dredgers 28 metres long dig up to 60,000 tonnes each of coal a day. Other conveyers then take it into power station boilers.

INTERVIEW OF MY FATHER.

My father worked at Hazelwood power station as a boiler cleaner; it took about 5 days to clean a boiler if nothing went wrong and if they had all of the necessary gear and 12 men working 2 12 hour shifts.The boilers these days are a lot cleaner and to wash them you plug in hoses in a designated areas in the boiler to clean it. It takes 24 hours to cool down. If you went into the boiler when it wasn't cooled down it would kill you because it is so hot.

David Willett 7 H

As you walk down the town of Bairnsdale. You will see a lot of changes. Bairnsdale is near Sale, in Victoria, Australia . When you drive under the bridge used to be a tannery. A tannery is where they would tan cows' hides to make leather which is used to make shoes . Now people buy shoes from shoeshops .

Near the other side of the bridge where Phillips and Stones are. Where the Butter Factory and Ice Works. Ice works is where they chop the ice and give them to people to put in their refridgerators . When the Mitchell River bust its banks the Butter Factory would flood .

You could get butter and dairy products from a delivery cart pulled by horse. There also used to be a milk delivery and a baker's cart. There even once was a butcher's cart but now people buy milk, cheese, butter and meat from the supermarkets.

Where Bairnsdale Secondary College is there used to be a racecourse . Now the racecourse is near the Forge Creek Road. Also on Forge Creek Road is the old Bairnsdale Cinema. Now Bairndale has a Three Cinema behind Clints in Main St.

When the Postman came he would whistle 12 times to tell you he was there but now if the postman is coming you hear the sound of a motorbike coming .

In 1993 the train line Bairnsdale to Stratford was closed down. Before 1993 the Orbost to Bairnsdale line was closed down. The Bairnsdale Train Station is now a bus station. West Rail came down to see the railway .

Where the Shire Office is there once was a Circus performing there. Now a different circus comes every few years .

In World War II the aerodrome was used for aeroplanes .

Behind the Post Office there is a road. Go down the road. Then you see a shed. If you turn right where the palm tree and the picnic tables .Underneath there is the old swimming hole.

By Cheri O'Donnell

My great great granfather E.J Scott built the Lindenow South Hotel in 1891 and it cost four thousand pounds. In 1902 a fire burnt off the top storey. There have been 16 people to own the hotel. In 1972 the hotel closed down, and now it is used for a house. The name of the hotel is called "The New Norfolk" because of the Norflok pine tree at the front which is still there today.

LINDENOW SOUTH PRIMARY SCHOOL

The Lindenow South Primary School opened in 1889 and is 109 years old.There were 30 children when it opened and has 18 today. When I was at the school I was the fourth generation of my family to go there. There were fifty teachers that taught there up until today. The number of the school is 2963. At the school there is a mothers' club school Council.There are lots of computers, that are about to be hooked up to the Internet.The school joins up with many schools around Bairnsdale for sports and hobby programs.

LINDENOW SOUTH GENERAL STORE

Lindenow South store was buit in 1886. They used to sell many things that you can not buy there today, such as petrol, fireworks, and white wash. Thestore was also used for banking. Lindenow South store is very busy and some times there can be up to 130 customers a day. A bag of one dozon hot dogs used to cost 2 shillings. Mr Holt and Mr Jones were a first owners. Mygreat Uncle Mr Growcott ran the store for 28 years. Mr Barry Tanner runs the store today but doesn't sell as menny products as there used to be years ago.

POLICE STATION

Lindenow South had a Police Station in 1927. The police officer rode a police horse. His name was Constable Johns; the second police officer'sname, was Constable Reeves. He stayed at Lindenow South until 1933, that is when the police station was taken to Lindenow. At Lindenow South there was a jail and the police office'rs wife was paid a wage to cook the prisoner meals. There was also a stable for the police horse. The police station and house are still there and a family now live in it.

Jess Grumley

THINGS TO DO IN PAYNESVILLE

Well, in Paynesville there is a lot of things to do like go out boating for a day, and going out for a fish and then cook them up for tea or something.

THE PAYNESVILLE RAYMOND ISLAND FERRY

The first ferry was a hand wheel ferry and the people who were working on it had to turn this wheel around to make it go. The owner of it got married on it. Twenty years after that it sank and people could not bring their cars across because it could not fit in their boats or the taxis so they were paying people on the Paynesville side to take them to Bairnsdale to do their shopping and to get their kids to school. Some kids did not go to school until the ferry got rebuilt. This time it was a motor one. From then on it has been running by motor. The Raymond Island state school was first opened on the 14th of February 1902 and closed in 1934.

PAYNESVILLE FOOTBALL CLUB

The first team to win a premiership was in the year 1929.The Paynesville cricket club was first made in 1930 and still going now and winning premierships.

Jarad Pettersen

In May 1870 , east and north of Bairnsdale was flooded across to Jone Bay, south across Macleod's Morass. The punt that took people from one side of the river to the other was capsized, shipping could not enter the river because of the current and logs and rubbish in the water, and there was heavy loss of stock and produce. Because the cemetery was on the bank of the river,the flood current washed the dirt away from the graves smashed the coffins and washed the remains of the bodies downstream.Most of the remains ended up in the Moraas. Mr William Jefferson was employed to get the remains of the coffins and the people, after the flood had gone.

The remains were buried again at the site of the present cemetery, in Forge Creek Road. This cemetry was established in 1891. Major Hayes was the first person to be buried there(apart from the earlier remains). The site of the Punt Flat cemetry is now the Mitchell Gardens caravan park. There are still some graves there.A willow tree, which was planted by John Hollpway in the 1860s, marks the spot of the old cemetry.

Mark Stagg

The floods

There was a big flood in 1870 which still remain the highest in the district's history. The floods rose above 9 meters from the normal height at the Tambo River.

Bushfires In the year 1965 there was a bushfire the passed through the district. A lot of farms were damaged and five homes were destroyed. They said that it was 9:30am and it seemed like it was three in the afternoon.

Schools

We know there are three main schools in the Tambo Upper and Bruthen istrict. The three schools are Bruthen Primary, Tambo Upper Primary and

Swan Reach Primary: In 1989 Tambo Upper Primary was going to be closed down because there was not a lot of kids in the town or around Tambo Upper and I think the yearthere was a flood. They had to rebuild the school because the school got flooded out. There is a lot more but I have to go; bye.

AMANDA KELLEY

By 1860, however, a few of the settlers had begun small schools in Lucknow; Mrs Macmillan and Mrs Stracey Sharp had schools where children attended for a few hours each day for simple education at a cost of about sixpence a week. Mrs Hannah Wood began another school, believed to be on the site of the present school in McCulloch street, while Mrs Eaton had a school in Pyke street.

Mr Harry Hopkins mentioned in his memoirs that he had attended a school run by Captain Field, a retired East India company officer. This was in a building on the site of the flour mill near the punt crossing the Mitchell River.

Mr Grahame was another teacher who conducted a school in the Commercial Hotel. With so many teachers and schools one could wonder why it was that most of the children in the district still received no education. We must remember, however, that in the 1860s school was not compulsory and was certainly not free. Many parents couldn't, or would not send their children to school.

Amber Cooper

By Joel Williams

Lake Tyers was a well run mission station. They had their own butchery and dairy going. Also they grew a lot of vegetables like tomatoes, onions, silver beet, peas and beans, carrots, red beet, cucumber, pumpkin and marrow. They also grew turnips and swede. They also grew a lot of potatoes in a separate paddock on its own. When they were ready the men would go and dig them up. Also they had their own dispensary, also a clothing store and another store where the ladies go and get their ration like sugar, tea, flour, split pea, barley, sago, coffee and cocoa. And they get their bread Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. The two guys who do the milking they give out the milk every day of the week. Also my father used to run the dunny cart Monday and Friday and when it comes to Christmas he used to do it three days a week, that's Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Then my dad got too old for the job. I took over from him and I ran the business for him but I had a mate to help me do the job.

They also had a hot bath just past the dairy along side the lake and we let the school kids use it first and then the workers used it after they got off work.

We also had a lot of extra cattle as well, also good riding horses. When the bloke cuts the grass, they leave it for a while until it gets dry and then the other blokes start to bale it ready to cart in the old horse and dray or sometimes with the tractor and trailer.

We also used to get a lot of tourists who came onto the mission to have look around the place. They used to love our old church and they'd have a look at some of the elders' artifacts like boomerangs, sets of weapons, baskets made out of self-grown grass growing in the bush, hand-made shell the ladies got from the beach. Also, one of these Old Fellers used to show the people how to make a fire with a fire stick. When he sees a bit of smoke coming from the bark he just picks it up and he swings it around until he sees smoke coming from it. Then he shows the people how to make a fire from the fire stick.

They also got their own State School here. The grades were from Prep to the seventh Grade when the big girls or boys leave school to give them a good job working in the rhubarb garden that's next door to the Manager's house. Also the hospital.

When the children have their school picnic they hold it over on the beach just across from the Mission. They used to have camel rides or go and play on the beach with the other children.

When it comes to Christmas time the men used to get their Christmas pay and they give their wives money to get something for their children like toys and clothing. They used to hire a bus from Lakes Entrance for the day. The children used to have their Christmas tree in the hall and a good feed. After that I used to the Santa sometimes and when the little guys and girls come up to get their toys I used to have great fun with them. Sometimes they wouldn't come near me and I'd walk toward them and tell them, "Who is Santa?" And I tell them who I am. Sometimes they scream when they come up to get their toys and they say to their mother, "I don't like Santa because he makes me cry." And I'd say to them, "give back your toy or I will come and get you." And then I'd say, "I'm only joking, children." So I'd say, "Santa is going and I will see you all next year and I will say to all you children I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all."

Uncle Carl Turner as told to Norman Hayes