War heroes, Melbourne Cup champions and a national airline founder rank among Purnim’s claims to fame.
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For a little Western District town that, officially, isn’t really a town at all, it’s not a bad roll-call. Records show as far back as the 1850s, pubs, shops, churches and schools were springing up as the town developed to serve a growing farming community and fortune hunters on their way to the goldfields.
As many as 1500 people are believed to have called Purnim home in its heyday.
So just why Purnim was never officially gazetted as a town remains a mystery.
Its fortunes have waxed and waned over the years with a troubling decline since the new millennium. The loss of the last school, general store, post office and, most tellingly, the pub in quick succession could have easily sounded the death knell for the town that never was.
But with typical country resilience and a fighting community spirit, the people of Purnim, all 270 at last count, have bounced back with a renewed optimism for the future.
As momentum grows to finally have Purnim officially recognized as a township, on Sunday the community will celebrate its past, marking 150 years of history.
Purnim Community Group chairman Geoff Rollinson said although settlement had been traced back to about 1850, the “150-ish” anniversary, pegged to the opening of the town’s first post office in 1868, was chosen as an appropriate milestone.
Billed as a celebration of food, music and history, Sunday’s event is expected to attract more than 400 people.
Mr Rollinson said the presence of acclaimed indigenous singer-songwriter Archie Roach as the day’s headline act symbolised the link between the Purnim community and the nearby Framlingham settlement. As a child, Roach lived on the Framlingham Aboriginal reserve before being removed as part of the Stolen Generation.
“When we were thinking of having Purnim’s 150th , we wanted to emphasise that the town has had a long connection with the Framlingham settlement. Archie spent time at Framlingham, so having him here is quite a coup,” Mr Rollinson said. The program would also showcase a mix of local entertainers.
Archie Roach is by no means the only notable name to come out of the Purnim-Framlingham district.
Framlingham-born war hero Reg Saunders MBE was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army and arguably Australia’s best-known indigenous soldier.
Saunders served in the Second World War in North Africa, Greece, Crete and New Guinea and later in the Korean War.
His war medals were purchased by the Purnim Community Group last year and are now on display at the Warrnambool RSL.
Another decorated war hero, Paul McGinness is also revered as one of Purnim’s favourite sons. Born on the family’s Framlingham property, McGinness was an Australian flying ace during the First World War, credited with seven aerial victories and earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Along with Sir Hudson Fysh, he co-founded Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) in 1920.
Mr Rollinson said an 11am service at St Anne’s Catholic Church would launch Sunday’s 150th celebrations.
The Purnim Mechanics Institute Hall, these days known simply as the Purnim hall, and once the setting for weekly Saturday night dances, will host the rest of the day’s events, starting with a welcome to country by Aboriginal elder Rob Lowe senior and the launch of a history booklet and DVD on the town, ahead of the musical entertainment.
A history booklet on the hall, compiled by resident Ron Best for its 2014 refurbishment, will also be available.
Food vans, a CFA barbecue fund-raiser and a fire appeal will be held, while a display of historic photos and memorabilia will provide a walk down memory lane for the many former residents expected to attend, including the town’s oldest resident, 96-year- old Joan Haberfield.
Staunch Purnim supporter and retired dairy farmer Ray Eccles has lived most of his 85 years in the town he came to as a 14-year- old, driving a horse and cart 20 kilometres from Southern Cross.
“It was great growing up here,” he reminisced. “Everyone was your neighbour and everyone helped one another. In the hall everyone attended functions, no matter what they were. It was quite an active place.”
Mr Eccles and his wife Bernadette raised eight children in the town and son Anthony has continued the family farming business. Back then, farmers might have milked 40 to 80 cows on up to 70 hectares, he recalled, compared to today’s dairy herds of 500 and farm sizes of 250 hectares.
“In the 1960s there were 27 dairy farms within close proximity to the town centre. Now there are six,” he said.
With the amalgamation of farms came the steady population decline. Families left town, sporting clubs folded and schools closed.
Once there was a tennis club, football and cricket clubs and even a horse racing club.
Mr Eccles said horse racing had had a proud history in the Purnim district, a legacy from the renowned Bryan O’Lynn horse stud which produced 1870 Melbourne Cup winner Nimblefoot.
Nimblefoot was the progeny of 1965 Cup runner-up Panic, credited as the founder of a legendary bloodline.
These days, the cricket club is the town’s only surviving sporting club, and although premiership glory has eluded the locals this year, the recreation reserve, with its two ovals and refurbished clubrooms, will host the Grassmere association grand final this weekend.
The arrival of young families and the building of new homes in the last few years has given Ray Eccles new hope for Purnim’s future.
“We hope that with new people coming into the district, we can get back to what it was many years ago.”
A rural lifestyle, country air, town water supply, affordable house blocks and close proximity just 18 kilometres from Warrnambool were major drawcards, according to Mr Eccles, not to mention a first- class recreation ground, weekly mass at St Anne’s church and a well-equipped community hall.
Sunday’s 150th , he hopes, could provide just the kick-start the town needs.
“We hope this weekend will bring people out. It is a beautiful little area and hopefully it will continue to develop,” Mr Eccles said.
Attracted by lifestyle factors, Mr Rollinson moved with his family to Purnim in 2002. He said the arrival of more young families to town had prompted the formation of the community group, under the auspices of Moyne Shire, to drive family-friendly projects, including better quality footpaths and walkways.
Mr Rollinson said the community group was also keen to amend Purnim’s status, currently officially described variously as “a locality” and “a parish”, to “township”, a change it had hoped to have in place for this weekend’s celebrations.
For Moyne Shire Youth Council youth development officer Geraldine Edar-Ralph, the 150th has been something of a history lesson. Ms Edar-Ralph compiled and proofed the 64-page history booklet for the weekend celebrations. Titled Purnim’s 150-ish Year Celebration, looking back, moving forward, it comprises the work of eight researchers.
Ms Edar-Ralph said 150 years ago, Purnim boasted three pubs: the Bush Inn, the Royal Oak and the Purnim Hotel; and three primary schools: the local state school, a private school, and St Marcellus Catholic school. There were several blacksmith shops, two creameries, several shops and two churches.
Today’s St Anne’s Catholic church was built in 1940 to replace an earlier wooden structure, while the Presbyterian church is now a private residence.
The current hall was built in 1901, while the one-stop general store, built in 1907, was operated for many years by the Hall family before its closure in the early 2000s.