General News
27 May, 2021
Octogenarian to release book this weekend
A NEW book documenting the history of the township of Mackinnon’s Bridge will be launched this weekend with the help of the Mortlake and District Historical Society.
A NEW book documenting the history of the township of Mackinnon’s Bridge will be launched this weekend with the help of the Mortlake and District Historical Society.
The book, titled ‘The township of MacKinnon’s Bridge – Boorcan and Noorat East’, is centred on the settlement of Mackinnon’s Bridge and the Mackinnon family who have owned nearby Marida Yallock Station since 1853. Many of the early workers at Marida Yallock are depicted in the book and also the WW2 Soldier Settlement which commenced in 1945 taking up almost half of the land at Marida Yallock.
Ms Charles said her long-time intrigue in the history of the area had inspired her to write the book.
“It had never really been written about before,” she said.
“I just thought I would like to get it all down before I died.”
Ms Charles said it was “madness” for her to still feel the same passion for writing at 84 years old.
“What can you do though; you can’t be physical when you’re my age so it’s just good to sit at the computer,” she said.
“I love to record what I’ve done because I think it is going to be so important for future generations and what people of my age have done.”
The latest book marks the third for Ms Charles, who has maintained a historical focus on south west Victoria with previous publications including a focus on local women and Darlington, and she has also contributed to an upcoming book on early settlement efforts in Dundonnell.
But the opportunity to detail the history of Mackinnon’s Bridge holds a special place in Ms Charles’ heart.
“My home area is in Noorat east,” she said.
“It was a little village once, it had a school and a tennis court, but now there is nothing there. It’s just gone, and I wanted to record that while I could remember.”
She said the book had been in development for the last two years while undertaking research in the area.
“I had a general idea of how I wanted to approach the book but you always learn a lot of new things during the process. I learnt a lot about the MacKinnon family, about the area and the building of the railway line,” Ms Charles said.
“I really didn’t know much about when they had extended the rail line from Camperdown to Terang in 1888, and it became the end of the line then.
“But it’s a great record of MacKinnons Bridge, of the Marida Yallock and the MacKinnon family – who are still there. They came in about 1840 and were not the first settlers but were among the first, and the family are still working the property seven or eight generations later.
“That’s quite an achievement because there are not many station properties around now which still have the early settlers, so they’re very unique.”
Mortlake and District Historical Society secretary Sue Potter said it was exciting to be part of bringing such a unique book to readers.
“There is probably no other book out there like this,” she said.
“This is another link in how a lot of these areas functioned at the time. All these areas sort of fed off one another and this is just another way to connect that.
“Florence has done all the work, and we just sort of follow it through and see if we can get it published with our support.”
Proceeds from the book will go to the Mortlake and District Historical Society, which Ms Potter said helped the group remain active.
The township of MacKinnon’s Bridge – Boorcan and Noorat East will be launched this Sunday at the Corangamite Shire Participate and Connect Community Expo this Sunday in Camperdown at the Royal Theatre.
A second launch will also be held at the Commercial Hotel in Terang on the same day from 2pm.