20180507 VIC Murtoa, Sheep Hill to Warracknabeal

06-05-2018 The Murtoa stick shed isn’t open often so we were lucky to be in town for an unexpected opening day and although it sounds strange to be excited about viewing a shed full of stick, trust me it is so much more. The stick shed is a type of grain storage facility built during a wheat glut, to store wheat that could not be exported during WWII and it is the earliest and last remaining example of this particular grand Australian rural tradition.  The Construction of the Stick Shed, first known as Marmalake/Murtoa Grain store No.1, commenced in Sept, 1941 and the store was ready to receive deliveries of wheat by Jan 1942, by June the grain store was at full capacity, taking only 4 months to build, there was no bull shit to content with in those day, just get it done.

Victoria was slow to adopt bulk storage where NSW had a few silos, crop yield had improved with a bumper season but the war limited export for several years, hessian bags and cornsacks were scarce so a 3 million storage solution was required.  The shed is 280mtr in length, 60mtr wide and 19mtr high, the roof and walls are made of corrugated iron.

Construction from 560 unmilled poles, (56 rows of 10) to support the corrugated iron roof of the shed, it was soon dubbed the 'Stick Shed'.

The grain was lifted by elevators in the working house to  a conveyor belt which ran the full length of the building just under the apex of the roof.  Wheat could be dropped to the floor from the conveyor belt at any point along the belt.  The first delivery of wheat was delivered by railway on 17 Feb and by late May/June the Murtoa shed was filled with 3,381,600 bushels which remained virtually undisturbed until April 1944.

New concrete bases have been poured for poles which had been effected by vermin or damp and the poles repositioned to their correct height.

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Some posts (less than 3%) have been replaced by steel post because it is difficult and very expensive to obtain strong poles of the required height.

Well that was an interesting part of our history and well worth the $10 fee to view, well done to the town of Murtoa for keeping part of your town history alive.

Before leaving I managed a flyby shoot of the memorial park guarded by Memorial Gates erected in 1920 in honour of the locals who died on WWI battlefields.

Onto Minyip now to check out the next painted silo and the roads and surroundings are very fogie, make sure your lights are on Des.

We drove through the town of Minyip, established in the early 1870's and flourished as a wheat growing district for over a century then it was rediscovered by Crawford Production in 1984 as the town to be featured as "Coopers Crossing" in the television series "The Flying Doctors" which ceased in 1989.

Artist Adnate had taken photos of a range of children but no one know who wound be chosen for the final design. Adnate painted the Indigenous-themed mural representing the passing of knowledge from generation to generation, Curtly McDonald, 9 and Savannah Marks, 2 are the faces featured on this silo with Wimmera Elders, Ron Marks and Regina Hood. Curtly mother said we went up to Sheep Hill one day and Curtly had a chat with Adnate and asked him how he had done the paintings, that was before he even knew he would be on there, we were waiting on the edge of our seats not known until the first photo went up of his face, he was so excited he went to school and told everyone he was on a silo.

Stopping at Warracknabeal we walked the streets taking my usual photos before stopping for lunch at one of the many Hotels.

The Palace Hotel with its ornate concrete formwork balcony and embellished name on the upper floor.

The Warracknabeal Hotel 1891 with its arched entranceway and cast iron lacework.

The roundabout was constructed in 2001 in recognition of the Centenary of Federation the life size sculpture of six sheep and a Kelpie sheep dog signify's the role of the squatters in the early settlement.

STAY TUNED FOR  THE NEXT PART OF THE SILO TRAIL