On the road Part 2

Continuing my recount of our recent driving holiday, after our stop at Colac, we then set off to drive to the town of Terang where my grandparents lived in the early years of their marriage (first part of 1920s) and where my mother was born in 1924. In the mid 1990s whilst on a driving holiday back from Adelaide to Melbourne with my first husband and our young daughters we detoured from the Great Ocean Road so I could see the town of Terang and take photos of landmarks for my mother. 

But before we left Colac we drove out to Lake Colac.

It’s quite a large lake actually; very peaceful when we were there...and cold too.

Then it was time to head off towards Terang. Unlike the trip in the 90s in which we were driving from Adelaide, this time we were driving towards Adelaide, or it may have been a time factor then, but whatever the reason, the town of Camperdown was missed that time. But not this time. We stopped and walked around the main street. 

Lovely old buildings...

This clock tower was built by a family to honour a relative...pretty impressive private memorial which gives the public a lovely amenity.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2011/06/23/3251692.htm




Gardens too in the swathe of parkland in the main streer which included a war memorial.

One of the really interesting historic buildings in Camperdown is the Post Office. It was originally a single storey building and dates back to 1863.

But soon it was time to head off again; to Terang. This visit was specifically to explore places where my family lived. This visit though, I was taking advantage of modern technology, especially information technology. Using the electoral rolls on Ancestry.com.au, I was able to trace where my grandparents had lived. Admittedly there is a big drawback with early electoral records where only the street is mentioned...no numbers. But this limited information would still put me in the general vicinity of where my recent ancestors lived. 

So we drove up Mortlake Rd, Terang which was entry in the roll...it’s a long road but I stopped and took photos. 

So no idea which house of course...

But Nana and Pa moved a few times according to the rolls.

The year my mum was born, the rolls gave the family’s address as Blackiston St, which runs off Mortlake Rd and it was a tiny street with only a few houses.

The little street ended and ran into farmland; possibly still just like it was in the 1920s

another address was Hambden St...

We parked in the main street and walked around the town...

My Pa’s family ( on his mother’s side) were originally from Scotland so I just had to take a photo of this plaque! 

Quite an impressive brick building 

And here’s something that is rarely seen these days, an old fashioned Drapery shop!

Lawn Bowls anyone? 

And then we drove around the town to the landmarks that I’d photographed for my mother all those years ago. The convent school where mum and her sister were educated in the 1930s. 

My mum used to intrigue with her stories of her school days. Sadly the cruelty of the nuns was always at the forefront of her reminiscing; perhaps she exaggerated but probably not. My mum was left handed so was hounded to write with her right hand so school wouldn’t have been too pleasant. Also she recounted how the nuns refused to call her by her given name as it wasn’t a saints’ name. Luckily her middle name was that of a saint so they called her that.Around the side street from where I took this photo, showed a lot of new buildings showing how the school had grown since the 90s but it was lunchtime and that’s not a good time to take photos of a school! 🥴

Next photo stop was Bowman’s Hotel a one time big employer in the district...

Sadly it looked like it was no longer in operation but had been thriving in that last visit; a bit dilapidated looking now.

The station is still there and has regular services...

nonetheless.

And that was our trip to Terang; a quick trip, although not as rushed as my first visit there. If my mum and aunt were alive to see the town I think they would still find so many landmarks of their childhood. A charming town.

On the road again...

So time to write a bit more about our recent holiday. The last post I wrote about our trip saw us staying overnight in the lovely town of Lorne. The next morning I had to make a decision; continue on the Great Ocean Rd with its stunning scenery or detour inland to places where my ancestors lived. DH left it up to me to decide. The latter choice won and we drove inland through lovely country to our first stop, the town of Colac. 

And in particular we stopped at the historic Thwaites Bakery, a business started by a relative of my mum’s father. 

We ordered a cup of coffee and I asked the lady behind the counter whether the Thwaites family still ran the business. She said yes, Mark Thwaites is in charge now and when I commented that I was a distant cousin, she offered to let him know I was there as she was sure he’d like to meet me.

And when Mark got a chance he came out into the shop. He reminded me of one of my Pa’s brothers so the resemblance was there! 

He talked about the old photos on the shop wall. Mark’s grandfather started the business in 1909! 

The photo on the top left shows Mark’s grandfather in his delivery truck and the young boy is Mark’s father. 

So a few more photos taken outside. 

Standing in front of what was the original shop

And then to the left of the entrance of the shop nowadays is the attached residence of the family.


Everything was beautifully restored and kept in wonderful condition. DH and I found that so refreshing as our hometown of Brisbane hadn’t had such a good track record of maintaining/ keeping historical buildings. Bravo Thwaites family!!

Two months ago, we were in Albany, WA...

It's amazing how time has flown! And I still haven't written all those posts that I planned to.

Albany has a number of historical buildings and sites; we visited a few. 

A plaque honoring the centenary of the founding of Albany...

This plaque in the next photo is all about communication; it's on the site of the first telegraph pole that brought communication from the eastern states to WA.

 That plaque is in front of this lovely old building which is now part of a university.

A view of the same building taken from farther down the street...

Behind that historical building is a more modern building with an interesting roofline...

The street scene from across the street from the uni building...

And a A frame board outside a cafe...

In a previous post on Albany, I mentioned that George Vancouver 'has left his name' on a few places in this area, and the town is no longer exception.

So we went looking for this place...despite the sign, they were actually closed for the day! 🤔

And a nearby cafe had George's name on it too! 

Here's another lovely old building we saw...

And this one too!

I have a little 'game' with one of my nieces; if either one of us sees a 'big' anything, ( Aussies have a lot of things/tourist attractions such as Big Pineapple, Big Banana, Big Sheep, BigPrawn, Big RockingHorse etc etc)  we take a photo and send it to the other. So when I saw the following item outside a shop in Albany, I just had to get DH to take a photo...

I loved this artwork on a building...

Another street view...

Walking around the town builds up an appetite so we stopped at a cafe that looked very popular with locals. 

My cheese and chicken topper baked potato and salad was delish...

And DH loved that pie 😊

There is one more post I've planned to write about our visit to Albany. It will feature a particular exhibition at the Museum.