World War 1 : The Shire of Heidelberg
The original scope of the project was to research the areas covered by the Yarra Plenty Regional Library, i.e. the existing municipalities of Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea.
This proved somewhat difficult in assess just where some of the outlying settlements would have fitted into today’s topology, hence a later decision was to instead take Dr. Who’s Tardus Time Machine back to 1914 and the Shires of the time.
This had a major major effect on what we may now consider as being Heidelberg in that Alphington and Fairfield (originally included in our Darebin Roll) returned to the Shire of Heidelberg.
In 1914, Fairfield was a separate Riding in Heidelberg Shire and elected its own representatives, Alphington was part of the Ivanhoe Riding of the same shire.
Regardless of the political boundaries, the citizens of both Fairfield and Alphington gravitated much more towards Northcote, adopting the logical and geographic division of the Darebin Creek. Certainly in terms of
war news, they would have headed for the Northcote Leader which included news and casualties from both areas – their “local”, the Heidelberg News carried little on the conflict after the initial burst of fighting in the Dardanelles.
In 1951, a poll of Fairfield and Alphington ratepayers voted a nearly two-thirds majority in favour of a separate city of Ivanhoe, but the State Government at the time was pressing for larger local government entities and ignored the results of the poll.
The two suburbs remained as part of Heidelberg until August, 1962, when pressure from ratepayers saw the area come under the control of the City of Northcote as from October of that year, adding 2.2 square miles, 12,342 new residents, 2,614 dwellings (along with substantial numbers of shops, offices and
factories) and landmarks in the Yarra Bend Park, the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital and the Fairlea Women’s Prison. The area became the new South East Ward of the City Of Northcote.
The second impact on Heidelberg came as something of a surprise – Nillimbuk; used as an alternative to Diamond Creek and now the name of the Shire covering most of what we may think of the the Diamond Valley was actually part of the Heidelberg Shire, despite it being virtually surrounded by areas that
were part of the Shire of Eltham.
Hence, although it may seem as something of a conundrum, several casualties from Diamond Creek/Nillimbuk are, for the purposes of adhering to the 1914 boundaries, included within our Heidelberg Roll.
The Shire of Heidelberg : 1914
According to the Municipal Directory, Heidelberg Shire comprised an area of 41 square miles and included Alphington (population 680), Fairfield (4,670), Greensborough (650), Heidelberg (1,710), Ivanhoe (2,970), Macleod, Nillumbik (Diamond Creek, 580) and Rosanna (with the additional advice “trains stop if required”).
The population was given as 12,440 and the number of rateable properties, 2,848.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Shire (1918)
ALPHINGTON – Horticultural township with State school, three churches, post and telegraph office, branch of bank, police station public hall, tennis club, gasometer, three hotels and public park. Stone crushing works. Rail 5 ¾ miles, fares 5½d and 4½d. Population : 496 (680, 37%)
FAIRFIELD – Improving township with telegraph and money-order office, telephone bureau, State school, three churches, Rechabite hall, branch of bank, hospital, public park, recreation reserve and hotel. Flat tableland, overlying basalt. Rail – 5 miles, fare 3½d and 2d. Population 3,632 (4,985, 37.3%)
GREENSBOROUGH – Picturesque township and horticultural district on the Plenty River with post and telegraph office; state school, two churches, telephone bureau, two hotels, public hall and park. Rail
– 13½ miles, fares 1s. and 9d. J. H. Starling pm post-master) Population : 820 (650, 26%)
HEIDELBERG – Old-established township on Yarra River with post and money order office, savings bank, telegraph station and telephone exchange, shire hall, Austin Hospital, public library and reading room, three public halls, state, denominational and military schools, four churches, two hotels, police court and station, gasworks, branch of bank, insurance agency, fire brigade, cemetery and newspaper. Golf links, tennis, cricket, football, bowling and angling clubs. Heidelberg park and gardens are a pleasant resort. Fishing and boating on Yarra. Rail : 8 miles. Fares 7½d and 6½d. C. Macguire, pm. Population, 1895 (1,710, 11%)
IVANHOE – Thriving township with handsome villa residences, post, telegraph and money order offices, state school, three churches, private school, branch of bank, fire brigade, hotel, bowling, tennis and croquet clubs. Rail – 6¾ miles, fares 7d. and 6d. M. A. Bellamy, pm. Population 3179 (2970, 7.3%)
MACLEOD – Station 10¼ miles. Fares, 9d and 7d.
MONT PARK – Site of lunatic asylum, also convalescent hospital for returned soldiers. Rail to Heidelberg or Macleod, hence cab.
NILLIMBUK (Diamond Creek) – Fruit-growing district on creek. Surrounding country hilly, schistose or clay slate formations. Post, telegraph and money order office, two schools, two churches, public hall, hotel, police station, branch of bank (Tuesday), telephone bureau and literary institute. Horticultural society holds annual show. Public park, tennis, cricket, football and bowling clubs. Rail – 19½ miles. Fares 1s5d and 1.0½d. R. H. James, pm. Population 785 (580, 35%)
ROSANNA – Station, 9 miles. Fares 8½d and 6½d (train stops if required). Golf links.
Population figures in parentheses represent the 1914 total and the growth over the period. Certainly the impression to be gained from these percentages is that the “outer” areas of the Shire (Alphington, Fairfield, Greensborough, Diamond Creek) were growing much faster than the central Heidelberg and Ivanhoe.
Perhaps the other surprise is that the Directory used “Nillimbuk” with “Diamond Creek” as an alternative – a quick search of Australian War Memorial and National Archives records suggest not a single serviceman enlisted using Nillimbuk as either their place of birth or residence.
Part of this article appears in “The outbreak of war” in “Fine Spirit and Pluck: World War One Stories from Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea” published by Yarra Plenty Regional Library, August 2016
