Snapshot of Wattle Flat in 1893

Retail Stores

• There are several well established & flourishing general merchandise stores. Two are close to each other opposite the Post Office Hotel. Charles Jones store & Frederick Thompsons store (also known as the Post Office stores).
• There is another general store run by John Ireland at the southern end of Wattle Flat (motor bike repair shop today).
• There are two active butcheries in the central village area: Hodges & Crawford’s.
• Mr Sandon runs a Tobacco Shop, which has a billiard room in the central village area.
• The shop that is the general store today (2017) was owned by Lucien Grimwood (storekeeper) in 1893, and was sold on to John Thomas Jones- a baker in 1895.  

Government Services

• Until 1893, most of the government administration for this area is administered from the town of Sofala (6km to the north), but this becomes transferred to Wattle Flat during the 1890’s with the establishment of a new courthouse & Post Office in 1898. Throughout this period the post office is administered by William Walters. He oversees the introduction of the controversial new telephone service.
• Police Sargeant Fagan (the source of a lot of the information in this snapshot) is in 1893 a guardian of the district peace “an officer in the prime of life, though grey and of magnificent physique & excellent memory. He is an entertaining man whose connection with Wattle Flat extends over 30 years.”
• The substantial brick state school building still being used in 2017 was erected in 1871. In 1893 there were 98 pupils. The school master was Charles Grater who lived in a school masters residence adjacent to the school.

Churches & Halls

• A Catholic church, convent, & school had been well established at Wattle Flat during the 1860’s & 70’s and continued during the 1890’s. The convent building was constructed of bricks made at Wyagdon by Mr A White.  In 1894 the Wattle Flat convent was supervised by Sr. M. John and there were 55 pupils.
• The original wooden Church of England building at the northern end of Wattle Flat was replaced by a stone building sometime during the 1860’s/70’s period generously funded by  J B  Suttor.
• There is also a Wesleyan Chapel in the centre of the village. In this chapel during the 1870’s The “Orange Lodge” held their meetings in this chapel. In 1893 there is mention of the Orange Lodge flagpole from which their standard flies each July.
• The Wattle Flat Temperance Hall built by John Bright presumably near his house is still used for village meetings.

Sports 

Popular village sports where cricket for the guys & tennis for the girls

Homes & Families

There are numerous houses throughout the village on both sides of the road. Notable amongst these are two houses that still stand proud in 2017.

• John Bright’s house in the south part of the village “a red-brick building with a small garden each side of the front door, and a very nice orchard at the side of the house.”
• Mrs Crawford’s House, in the northern part. “…is one of the most beautiful of the residences of the district, …, has a trim garden in front of it, and behind it an agricultural area of some considerable extent.”

Families living in Wattle Flat c1893 include : Atherton, Batterham, Beath, Bennett, Bonfield, Brailey, Bright, Brockwell, Campbell, Canrick, Carmichael, Casey, Caugherty, Clark, Cooper, Coops, Cox, Crawford, Davison, Dawson, Dowling, Dunleavey, Dyer, Eccles, Eldridge, Ellis, Foster, Gillard, Gillier, Gordan, Grice, Hatfield, Healey, Hoar, Hodge, Hodges , Hotter, Hurst, Hutchinson, Jacobs, Johnson, Jones, Keeley, Kneal, Lawson, Lee, Mackie, Martin, Mathews, McAtamney, McCarthy, McCormack, McKinney, McKinnon, McPeak, Menghini, Mini, Mitchell, Moon, Moyle, Naughton, O’Neill, Prosper, Prime, Ray, Reilley, Reilly, Reily, Roberts, Rushton, Rutter, Sanden, Saunders, Shaw, Shawcross, Sheldon, Smith, Storey, Swift, Taylor, Thompson, Toner, Vassala, Venoni, Waddell, Webb, White, Williams, & Wilson.

There are also several Chinese miners living in Wattle Flat at this time.

Local food production

Many home gardens are set up for food production. There are numerous orchards & vegetable gardens. There are also numerous domesticated flocks of geese in the village.

Numerous farms have been developed in the Wattle Flat area. One of the most notable is the  Bee farm of Henry Petersen on a 10 acre property at Nuggetty Hill to the east of the village. Here there are 160 hives of Italian bees, that have produced as much as 22.5 tons of honey in a season.  Petersen also has an apple orchard fenced in by blackberry & red briar thickets, and a vineyard of both red & white grapes from which he makes wine for his personal consumption. Sadly it seems that this entire farm was destroyed by a fire in 1893. 

Gold Mining is continuing at

• Middle Creek Reef Mine:- After protracted legal issues during the early 1890’s, miners (including several members of the Reilly family) at the Middle Creek Gold Mine restart mining activities in 1893 with good results.
• Big Oakey Creek Reef Mine:- Messrs J Mini, J Eldridge, J Brockwell & Waddell are successfully developing the Big Oakey Creek Mine.
• Solitary Reef Mine:- (currently deserted by tributors T Webb & J S Atherton (10% tribute). They want a 15% tribute from mine owners to continue working. In the meantime they start the Solitary Extended Mine across the road behind Ireland’s store.
• Reef mining is also continuing at Reilly’s Creek by Grice & Co & Mackie & Co.
• John Bright’s alluvial works (probably near Solitary Lane). A race has been constructed & sluicing for gold is apparently getting favourable results.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS 

Introduction of new telephone service – considered by some to be “deplorable”!

Objections to the conversion in Wattle Flat of the telegraph office to a telephone office:- “Firstly, that there is not the same privacy in the telephone as the telegraph, the building being of so unsubstantial a character that anyone desirous of hearing the contents of a message could do so with very little difficulty. Secondly, that after enjoying the benefits of an official Post and Telegraph Office for four years, we respectfully beg to protest against any alterations being made.” … “Should the change be effected by headquarters  as proposed, it is considered with the divided state of parties at Wattle Flat that the result will prove deplorable.”

Extracts from a verbose 1894 journalistic profile on Charles Jones store in Wattle Flat.

• “it is one of the model stores of the West, the universal provider of the Flat, the ‘ Anthony Hordern and Son’s emporium,’ if the term be permissible of the place in which it so healthily flourishes.”
• “Owned by and conducted under the direct supervision of Mr. Charles Jones, J.P., it is a drapery, grocery, ironmongery, boot and shoe : shop, haberdashery, mercery, etc., etc.”
• “His ladies’ counter, presided over by an attentive assistant worthy to serve in an establishment in the metropolis, is laden with ribbons, and laces, and pieces of dress stuffs, which say, are being displayed before the sparkling eyes of one of the local belles.”
• He is “..buying some gold from a miner, and in this it is learned, afterward, that he does as much business as though he ran a bank.”
• He is “.. making up an immense package of groceries, the while assistants are weighing tobacco, counting out cigars, measuring tweeds, etc., etc. ; inquiries for pens and paper,- pencils, postage stamps and gunpowder being just as readily met, as one is for two pounds of delicious looking cheese, butter, or bacon further along the counter.”
• For the Miners “..he embraced every branch of a first class store that was known to modern requirements. There was never any need to go past C. Jones and Co. He did an immense business with the miners, of course…. for them he kept every article that could possibly be thought of — from dish to tent, from explosive to blanket .. “
• “…catching sight at the door, of a number of insurance plates, and other cards, which notified that Mr. Jones was an insurance agent, auctioneer, commission agent and valuator..”
• “..He not only did a large, but the best business in the district — a fact attributable to just three things, comprehensiveness of stock, good value, and small profit (margin).”