First published on the ‘Gawler: Colonial Athens’ blog on 05/03/2023.
The Gawler Club in 2023, is celebrating 150 years since the club's foundation.
The Gawler Club was founded in 1873. Originally the clubs’ rooms were situated in the basement under the Institute Reading Room. In 1880, the Corporation of the Town of Gawler leased a basement room in the Town Hall to the Gawler Club, where it has remained ever since, except for a brief period during which the Gawler Civic Centre was constructed. During this time the Gawler Club was located at the Elderly Centre on 14th Street, Gawler South.[1]
Both my uncles, Lance and Robin, as well as my grandfather Edward were members of the Gawler Club, with their names gracing the championships boards in the club room.
In 1877, the Mallala Milling Company was floated with a
capital investment of ten thousand pounds. A site in the township was chosen
and James Martin and Co of Gawler were contracted to build all the machinery
and carpentry for the new Mallala Mill.
The foundation stone was laid on 26 July 1878 by Miss M.A. Chivell, who was
presented with a silver trowel for her efforts.[1]
The Mill was opened by Mr W. Cavanagh M.P. on Tuesday 18
March 1879.
The completed building was three stories tall, built from
hammer-dressed limestone, with brick quoins and cement dressings. At the rear was a shed that contained a
Cornish boiler manufactured at James Martin and Co in Gawler. The boiler drove
a horizontal engine of 22 horsepower, with a flywheel weighing three tons.
The mill consisted of three pairs of
French burr stones, each being 3 feet and 8 inches in diameter.[2]
On 31 August 1880, just after 12 noon, the boiler at the
Mallala Mill exploded. Mr Armfield, the Mills engineer had just been to check
on the boiler and returned to the engine room when the accident happened. The
boiler exploded, blowing down half of the boiler-house walls and bursting
numerous pipes. The explosion blew the roof of the engine and boiler room
houses and shattered the base of the chimney stack. Luckily, no one lost their
lives, as most workers had gone to lunch, however, Mr Armfield received some
head injuries from flying debris
When the mill closed, the inner workings, the steam engine
and grinder were removed and used at the Blyth Mill.[3]
Mathew Henry East held the title in 1909, and in 1933, East Brothers and Co
took possession
In 1947 the 50-foot-tall chimney, made from over 6000 bricks, that had been built in 1878 was demolished. It had been declared unsafe and a risk to the buildings nearby
The Mallala and Districts Historical committee was formed in 1968, and in 1970, the Adelaide Plains Council bought Mallala Flour Mill to be
used as a museum. The museum holds a comprehensive military display of local
involvement, farming machinery, an REO Speedwagon Fire Engine, displays of old
typewriters, toys, blacksmith forge, and Mr Temby’s penny-farthing, which was
ridden in the Adelaide Xmas Pageant by Lance Tiller. The Long Plains Schoolroom has many displays, and recently, in 2021, a new upstairs gallery was
opened and dedicated to long term volunteer, the late Margaret Tiller.
The Mallala Museum is considered one of the finest local
heritage museums in South Australia. It is open every Sunday afternoon from 2pm
until 4:30pm and is run by volunteers. <end transcript>
[1] 'Laying the Foundation Stone of Mallala Flour Mill', Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser, (6 August 1878), p. 4.
[2] 'Opening of the Mallala Mill.', South Australian Register, (20 March 1879), p. 1.
[3] 1947 'Out Among The People', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954), 15 April, p. 4. , viewed 14 Aug 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30522934
Across 5 decades, and
for 40 consecutive years, my uncle, Lance Tiller, rode his penny farthing bicycle
in the historic John Martins Christmas Pageant, now known as the Credit Union
Christmas Pageant.
The Penny Farthing was
invented in 1870 in England (also known as the High-wheel). The name Penny
Farthing comes from two English coins, used to describe the bikes wheels, due
to their size.
My uncles Penny Farthing once belonged to a gentleman at
Middle Beach, named Samuel Temby. (as an interesting side-note, my Uncle owned
the Middle Beach caravan park for several years during the late 1980’s early
1990’s, and I believe my grandfather’s pool table is still there!)
Mr Temby’s son began to ride the bike
around Middle Beach. Later he moved to Mallala, and the old bike was put in the
shed, and mostly forgotten.
In the late 1950’s my uncle purchased the penny farthing
from the Tenby’s and learned how to ride the bike. Its seat sat 1.5 metres in
the air, and one had to run alongside the bike, and use a small step to jump up
into the seat!
It was in Gawler that
Lance applied for a position in the John Martin’s Christmas Pageant. In a story
shared with me by my uncle, he claims that the members of the pageant drive out
to Gawler, and asked him to ride the penny farthing in traffic up and down the
main street of Gawler, to prove he had control of the bicycle.
At my parents in Gawler, circa 1965
It must’ve worked, as he rode in the pageant
for many years afterwards, sometimes dressed as a clown, other times riding alongside
the English bus. Lance only retied after a pageant in the
early 2000’s in which a member of the large crowd, dressed in wolf costume,
leaped from the audience and slammed into his bike, causing Lance to fall
heavily from the height of the seat – an injury as a sixty something year old
man at the time, he has never fully recovered from.
The Credit Union
Christmas Pageant has been one of the highlights of my Uncles life, and his
face and eyes light up whenever he speaks of it, so I thought, I would share
some of his story with you, before father time catches up with him, and his
story is forgotten.
Perhaps, one day, I might take up a position with the Adelaide Credit Union Christmas Pageant, and continue my uncles tradition!
The Mallala Museum bought Uncle Lance’s Penny Farthing
bicycle and it is still on display as an exhibit.
Mallala Museum, 2013, Penny
Farthing Bicycle, Now and Then Mallala, viewed 5 Nov 2017, http://mallala.nowandthen.net.au/Penny_Farthing_Bicycle
