Lorna Parke moved to Jindivick in 1933, when she was 10 years old, to live on the family farm. She is an amazing cook who has been cooking since she was a child. One fond memory is winning “Most Successful” exhibitor in the Under 14 section at the District Show in Drouin.
“One of the categories was a “Pound Fruit Cake”. It was hard work mixing all the ingredients by hand. One year I had just finished baking a Pound Cake and Mum said she would put it on top of the dresser to keep it safe. As she reached up the corner of the tray caught on the edge of the dresser and the cake flew through the air, landing split in two. I was devastated. We sort of pushed it together again and tied it up, but Mum said I had to make another one. The next attempt was the prize winner that year, but my “repaired” version came second!”
Read some more stories from Lorna here:
Jack and Eileen Notman married in 1952 after meeting at a dance where Jack was playing the drums for “Skinner’s Orchestra.” Jack has lived all his life in Jindivick since 1922 and Eileen remembers waking up on her first morning of married life to a blanket of snow. They both also remember the lively social events at the Hall when each local road was responsible to stage a monthly concert. Jack tells that, “One night at a dance at the hall when supper was about to begin, there was no milk to be had. Of course there wasn’t a milk bar then. Someone noticed Mr Goodwin’s cows in the hall grounds, so four young fellows , all dressed up in their suits cornered and caught one cow by the horns whilst another lad proceeded to milk the cow. We got enough milk for the tea & coffee for our supper. Don’t say that we weren’t versatile in those days!” Read some more stories from the Notmans here:
Jack Pretty managed the Jindivick General Store for fifty years (1952-2002) – his family had owned it t since 1936. He is well known throughout the district for his kindness and service to the Jindivick community and in 2003 was awarded an Order of Australia Medal. Jack recalls how the arrival of electricity in 1938 saw the end of lamps and candles and ushered in an era of home comforts and modern electric milking machines. Dairying hit its heydays in the 1950s in this region with improved pasture management and fodder conservation and the arrival of the versatile Massey Ferguson tractor in place of horses. This led to higher stocking rates and the prosperous expansion of dairy farms in the Jindivick area. Instead of having to milk a small herd by hand and haul milk cans to the side of the road for daily delivery, farmers could now use stainless steel electrified milking equipment and refrigerated vats for milk storage. In those days, Jack remembers that Jindivick was known as ‘the Toorak of dry-land dairy farming’ and he recalls that there were at least 21 farms between Jindivick and Neerim South, several milking only 25 cows on 40 acres. In 2014, there are only three farms along this road, on triple the acreage with a medium size herd consisting of 300 cows! Hear more about Jindivick in the old days: