Signal House, From Graeme Skeet's Gallery on the NSW Rail website

1915-1982

In 1891 a Railway Reserve was notified over an extensive area, and in 1906 land was resumed for the purpose of the North Coast Railway line.

Work commenced in the area in 1909 and proceeded through until 1915 when the section from Taree to Wauchope was opened. Maltese workers were employed in the construction of the line and camped in the area behind the Recreation Reserve.

The steel for the line was brought across the lake by the puntman Reg French on the punt named Samuel French.  It was off loaded and dragged up to the dumps by Jack Kidd’s bullock teams.

Extract from The Forge by Sid Tiedman:

"……no earth moving equipment or mechanical machines were used at all. The work was all done by ‘navvies’ using picks and shovels – the clay shoveled into half cubic yard tip-drays drawn by two draught horses, as one horse could not pull a loaded dray in the conditions that prevailed. There were literally thousands of men employed, and the clay in the cuttings was first torn up with a huge single furrow plough drawn by a bullock team.

The North Coast Railway construction (at Deep Creek, Nambucca), c 1919

"One gang of 30-odd Maltese were camped less than a quarter of a mile from the Smithy where I worked.  Construction trains were using the line as early as 1914. Vast quantities of railway sleepers were required and sleeper cutting was a big industry from 1911 onwards.

"There was an influx of these cutters from Gippsland, Victoria as well as from other districts. Almost all of the men from Gippsland, about 30 in all, were killed in World War I. Fine big strong men they were."

1919 Train coming through

First Officers in charge of the Johns River Railway Station appear to have been W. Hain and R. Waldon, appointed in August, 1935.  Brian Fletcher recalls being told of the camps and ‘hotels / sly grog shops’ at Passionfruit Creek and Ross Glen and how as a  school child he would travel by train to Taree High School. Train travel was used regularly at this time and through until the 1940s.

Yard switch map at Johns River

Dennis Cook of Johns River recalls the Railway Station being a busy place and seeing the trains being loaded with cattle and timber whilst he was at the local school during the 1950s and 1960s, and later on worked for the Railways.

1914 - 1960: Johns River Grows

1950-1983

The Johns River Progress Association operated  from around 1950 (tell us if you know by ccommenting below) until 1983, resurrected by a get-together at the Tavern in 2007, and followed by elections for officers later that year.   Current member Wendy Bawn attended the last meeting of the First Association in 1983.

Today, the Progress Association continues it’s work to bring our Village Plan to life.  The issues today are surprisingly similar with those of last century, from road conditions to landscaping, and yet another Johns River Jubilee!

Pot Holes and Mud!

Progress Association Secretary E. W. Bignell writes the Manning Shire Clerk complaining of mud holes in front of the post office and store (1957), gravel needed on Isaac’s Road [sic], and bushes needing cutting at the corner of Station Street.

The First Johns River Jubilee in 1951!

 from the Progress Association letters:· “Keep this date Clear.· The Johns River Jubilee Ball, Friday 20 July·· Night Owl Orchestra”

Progress Association Secretary E. W. Bignell writes Kellogs to donate again to the 2nd· Annual Flower Show in Johns River (1955)

1914 - 1960: Johns River Grows

1950—1960

Receipts and dockets from mid-last-century

Sales Dockets  –  [Esther Bradley (Kidd) Collection]

Progress Association Letters — [Johns River Museum Collection]

1914 - 1960: Johns River Grows

1930s: Bullocks Replaced by the Buxom Bovine

Recollections from BRIAN FLETCHER:

The horse and buggy era began to decline in the late 1920s, but bullock teams were still used for timber, but the last team disappeared in about 1935 and the pioneering days were over.’

Extract from ‘The Forge’ by Sid Tiedman (1975):

Doug Kidd is known to be the last teamster to snig logs across the highway before it was sealed in 1939.

Gradually the dairy industry evolved.  The first cream separator in the district was owned by Mr. Crossingham, who arranged for the cream to be transported by bullock teams to Coopernook and Camden Haven.  All the farmers would bring their milk to Mr. Crossingham’s creamery for separation.  Later, each farmer had his own separator.   

1932 -Stan Kidd’s team carting telegraph poles, May 22, 1935 Photo from Esther Bradley (Kidd) Collection

Fertilizer on crops was first used locally by Walter Ivers in 1931 with such improvements in production that many farmers soon followed suit.  Milk production soon increased and dairy farming became more dominant in the area.

In 1892 the Manning River Co-operation Co. Ltd. was formed on the Manning River with a capital of 10,000 pounds in 1 pound shares.

In 1939 Peters’ Factory was established at Taree and whole milk was taken there.  By the 1940’s dairy farming was at its’ peak with 93 farms in the valley producing either milk or cream.

1926 Sale of 20 Bullocks at the Blacksmith Shop (Now the Garage):

Changes in dairy farming  methods has seen a significant decline in the number of dairy farms due to the buying of small Milk Board Quotas by larger farms, the introductions of bulk pick-up, and the deregulation in 2000 of the industry since. In By 2010, only 4 dairy farms remain in the Johns River and  Stewarts River area, the Bignell, Thompson, Latham and Bulley dairies.

1914 - 1960: Johns River Grows

1930

Horse-drawn road works

Recollections from BRIAN FLETCHER

Starting in about 1930 my father Jim Fletcher worked for about 10 years for the Department of Main Roads (DMR) on the road construction on the Pacific Highway and later doing road maintenance. He worked on construction of the Highway from the Stewarts River Bridge to Ross Glen. It took some years to construct. He also did road maintenance, it was a gravel road and required constant maintenance.

James William Fletcher working on the Pacific Highway in the 1930’s

When he started he had a dray to cart soil and gravel, he later had a grader and two draught horses to draw it. When excavating, the road builders used bullock teams to pull big ploughs to loosen the soil and then teams of ‘navvies’ would then shovel the soil into drays (three quarters of a yard) to be carted further along the road for road fill.

I used to camp with dad when I was little, anywhere from Kendall to Port Macquarie, that was Dad's link. He had a car at home, Mum would have the car. He had three horses at work and he couldn't come home at night. He was good in the camp, he might stay in a forestry hut at Sapling Creek. I was there several times, the hut had no door, he would be up before daylight.

I'd wake up and there would be two draught horses with their heads inside the door ready for their feed. He never tied them up at night, they wouldn't wander away. If he was camping near home, he might put hobbles on them so that they wouldn't walk home.

When on the grader with Dad, I rode on the toolbox which was a beautiful wooden box containing all the grader tools. I still have the toolbox.

Below:  Yard switch map at Johns River