Melbourne Observer. 121107B. November 7, 2012. Part B. Pages 17-25, 28-36

Observer Magazine

www.MelbourneObserver.com.au Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - 7

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■ There was the end of an era for aMelbourne institution when ReservoirBus Company was sold this week tothe Dyson Group.

For almost 100 years, local buseshave been vital part of the daily life ofthe northern suburb and its surrounds.

Manager Russell Ward looks backfondly at his 44½-years with Reser-voir Bus Company, spanning almosthalf the history of public transport inthe region.

Russell looks back proudly at thehistory of service, orginally providedby a small number of owner-opera-tors.

It grew to a group that includedRBC, East-West Bus Lines andMelbourne Bus Link, that has in theorder of 190 vehicles, and employsmore than 300 people.

The sale of RBC to the DysonGroup on November 1 marks anotherchapter in decades of local history.

Bus historian Paul Kennelly saysthe first services in the area, in the1920s, were operated by the Pagefamily, who were later to be involvedwith Melbourne and Brighton BusLines, Melbourne Motor Coach Ser-vice and Australian Pacific.

They ran buses from Reservoir di-rect to Melbourne down High St.

“In 1925, when route licensing wasintroduced, Route 1A was establishedwhich terminated at the Northcotetram terminus at the intersection ofPlenty Rd, Miller, Dundas and HighSts, referred to as Thornbury Junc-tion,” says Paul, who is Secretary ofthe Bus and Coach Society ofVictoria.

“It was extended to ThornburyStation in 1931, but was cut back toThornbury Junction in 1941.

“The route was multiple owner-operated and had two distinct paths.One went to Edwardes Lake via HighSt, returning via Spring St and RegentStation.

“The other went up High St andthen went up Cheddar Rd,” Paul re-calls.

“The Witham brothers had estab-lished route 122A (now route 555)from Reservoir to Epping via Lalorin 1948.”

In the next few years, a number ofother operators joined them andformed Reservoir Motors.

“Despite these efforts, the busi-ness struggled and needed a signifi-cant financial injection.

“Enter Pat Cooper in 1954. Pathad operated a successful milk cart-ing business and took a 51 per centshare in a newly formed East Prestonand Epping Bus Services Pty Ltd

●●●●● Russell Ward retires after 44½ years with Reservoir Bus Company. He remains as Managing Director of Melbourne Bus Link, and

continues his involvement with East-West Bus Lines. Reservoir Bus Company was sold this week to the Dyson Group.

Taylor’s interest in Route 1A whichmeant that EP&EBS and KeithWilliamson and Harry Webb werethe sole operators of the route.

EP&EBS was to have its depot at922 High St, Reservoir, including apetrol station. Webb and Williamsonare said to have had their three-busdepot in Tyler St, Preston. They joinedforces in 1964.

In the mid 50s, Pat Cooper hadalso acquired two buses, and two char-ter licences, from Jack Merlo. Thiswas the genesis of Midland Tours.

Cooper’s sons, John and Peter, anddaughter Carmel, joined the business.Grandchildren have also been in-volved in the firm.

Paul Kennelly says that ReservoirBus Company was formed in Octo-ber 1968.

The track fleet stood at 27 buses,all bar one of them Bedfords.

ON THE BUSESON THE BUSES

●●●●● At ‘Thornbury Junction’, a High Street bus prepares for its jour-

ney north to Reservoir. The photo is dated to the late 1940s.

Photo: John Masterton Collection

●●●●● Buses prepare to head south along High Street, Reservoir. In 1925 licensing created Melbourne’s

Route 1A, running from the then-outer northern suburb to the City. Prior to this, the service had

been run by the Page family.

END OF AN ERA FOR MELBOURNE OPERATOR

●●●●● In the 1960s, almost the entire Reservoir green-and-cream

fleet comprised Bedford buses with bodies manufactured at the

Commonwealth Aircraft factory at Fishermens Bend.

with the existing operators of Reser-voir Motors (Pat Quinn, Bill Brown,Del and Jack Witham) each receiv-ing a quarter share of the remainder,”Paul notes.

In 1956, EP&EBS bought H E

Today, the fleet is all Volvo, saysRussell Ward.

Over the years, routes expandedinto growing suburban areas includ-ing Keon Park, Thomastown, Lalorand Epping.

In 1966, Myer opened the North-land Shopping Centre in EastPreston, and services were extendedto cater for shoppers.

Last services out of the centre justafter 12 noon Saturdays, when shopsthen shut, were packed.

Russell Ward recalls that therewas one 10-day railway strike aroundthis era, with buses replacing thetrains.

It was all hands on deck, with ev-ery possible vehicle put into service.Fares were just a few cents.

“But we almost had enough to buya new bus after that,” he laughs.

●●●●● Turn to Page 18

www.MelbourneObserver.com.auPage 18 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, November 7, 2012

ObserverMelbourne

Magazine

FARES PLEASE

●●●●● Leaving Reservoir Bus Company after 44½ years, Russell Ward

will continue his management involvements with East-West Bus

Lines and Melbourne Bus Link.

●●●●● From Page 17

■ In the 1970s a new livery ap-peared. The dark green and ivory wasreplaced with white and rust (brown)details. The name of the company alsoappeared in this livery.

The fleet was all Bedford at thisstage. It was all petrol, by far the larg-est all-petrol fleet in Melbourne, with31 buses.

This week’s takeover of RBC bythe Dyson Group is ironic as the twocompanies had an intense rivalry inthe 1950s and 60s.

The Dyson Group was establishedin 1952 by Laurence Collins Dyson,beginning with only four run downbuses and a small garage inCollingwood.

After serving in WWII the Englishimmigrant Laurie Dyson bought thebusiness from his old boss who hadrecently passed away - four "clappedout buses, bits of bombs".

Dyson ran a service out of RegentStation to Bundoora, extending toLarundel, Janefield and GresswellSanitarium on Wednesdays andweekends.

Dyson’s now has a bus and coachfleet of more than 420 and more than700 employees working in the sixdepots in Bundoora, Moama,Bairnsdale, Kyneton, Wodonga andLeongatha.

Dyson’s is this year celebrating its60th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, Dyson'shave been working hard to refurbishthree old run down buses back to theiroriginal forms.

The buses have be taken on a road-show, visiting all the regional depotswith an outstanding display of old pho-tographs, historical facts and memo-rabilia from Dyson's throughout their60 years of service.

Dyson’s acquisitions in recenttimes have included the Bell StreetBus Company, Northcote Bus Ser-vice, Reid’s, Cobb and Co, APT andV/Line services.

●●●●● The early ‘Webb and Williamson’ fleet assembled for a photograph

■ In the 1950s, one suburban block away from our home in the northernsuburb of Reservoir was a bus stop. Today, that spot at the corner of Dela-ware St and Mendip Rd, has a concrete seat on the nature strip.

For many years that nature strip did not have a seat. Nor did it have a'Bus Stop' sign. In fact, when I was a youngster, there wasn't even a foot-path. But there was the bus.

When I was 2 or 3, in 1958-59, the bus stop was my link with the outsideworld, beyond our street, beyond our neighbours. Going to the bus stopmeant a trip to the outside world, to be with other people, to see differentcolours, to experience, hear, smell, touch different things.

A trip to East Preston, usually meant a connecting tram trip from theterminus at Tyler St. This meant a visit to my maternal grandparents inThornbury, a shopping journey to the City, or perhaps a trip to Foy &Gibson in Smith St, Collingwood/Fitzroy.

So a trip to the bus stop was exciting. As was the custom for the time, mymother did not drive a car, so we either walked, or caught the bus.

For me, that bus was the dark green and cream vehicles operated byWebb and Williamson, the Coopers, Pat Quinn and others, on a servicethat became to be run by East Prestion and Epping Services, which laterbecame Reservoir Bus Company.

My first hazy memory as a three-year-old is of a bus much smaller thanthe vehicles we see in the 21st Century. The first buses may have even beenas small as 11- or 15-passenger capacity. There were perimeter seats, andshiny vertical chrome poles inside, for standing passengers to grasp. Therewere printed carboard advertisements above the window line.

The bus drivers would take time to say hello, often addressing passen-gers by name, which would probably have taken the form of 'Mrs Long' formy mother. That was the social custom of the time.

The bus fare would have been just a penny or two, even less for chuldren.Sometimes we would catch the bus at a different stop, just one block away,because that was the start and end of the section. Often, regular driverswould let you travel the extra stop, without charging you the extra penny.You quickly became to know the 'good' drivers, and the 'grumpy' ones.

Times were very different in the early 1960s. By age 8, I was permittedto travel by myself, or with a chum. In 2012, parents would not imagineletting youngsters travel by themselves at that age.

By age 11, I was travelling from Reservoir to Ivanhoe daily. That meanta bus trip, an 88 tram journey from East Preston to Thornbury, then aconnecting 'Green bus' (now Moreland Bus Lines) service to Ivanhoe.

As I grew older, I would experiment with different ways to return homefrom Ivanhoe. Sometimes, that meant a train trip to Fairfield, aboard thethen-red-and-white Northcote-Northland bus (later Dysons). An attractionof that trip was that teenage TV singer Debbie Byrne was often on that bus,making her way home to Thornbury.

Another alternative trip was the Ivanhoe Bus Company route fromIvanhoe to Mont Park, where there was a connecting Northland servicefrom West Heidelberg.

At nights, back at Reservoir, I would ride my bike, usually ending up atthe RBC depot, watching the buses coming in at the end of their shifts.

At that stage, RBC was housed in a number of premises including vacantgravelled suburban blocks. Drivers were able to skilfully park dozens ofbuses, side-by-side, separated by just inches.

Jackie Doidge was the man responsible for logging the return of eachvehicle, filling them with diesel or petrol, and parking them, ready for theearly morning drivers. He allowed this young teenager to re-fuel the busesfrom the Esso pumps - and to adjust the destination roll for each bus for thefirst service next morning.

Imagine the Occupational Health and Safety issues that such a practicewould evopke today.

Everyone at Reservoir Bus Company was very kind to me. This in-cluded the Coopers, Pat Quinn, and a very young trainee, Russell Ward.They used to welcome me, and helped me with my growing fascinationwith buses. Drivers such as Ernie Grimes gave me memorabilia such asLondon timetables, and he used to tell me about the number double deckerservices to Shepherd's Bush.

As an older teenager, I began to research the Melbourne bus routes ofold, dating back to the first 'omnibuses' of the 1920s, and even earlier. I wentthrough every weekly of the Victoria Government Gazette, and traced everyroute change over decades.

That giant body of research found its way to America, where a man wascompleting his PhD on Melbourne's transport system. He paid me $100 - afortune for a teen, in 1973. It would have cost me a fortune to make aduplicate, so the only copy of Melbourne's bus routes history went to America.

In my mid-teenage years, my interest was diverted to trains. Or one trainin particular. The Epping line service, that arrived at Reservoir station at7.43am, had a very pretty girl who came from Lalor.

We travelled by train daily to Clifton Hill, transferring to the Hurstbridgeline service, to take us to our respective schools at Ivanhoe. That was theend of the bus hobby. That girl interested me much more than a Bedford.

■ Reservoir Bus Company grew widely over the years. Its routes in-cluded:●●●●● 552 Northcote Plaza SC – North East Reservoir●●●●● 553 Preston – West Preston via Reservoir Railway Station (RS), Re-gent RS●●●●● 554 Thomastown – Thomastown via Lalor RS●●●●● 555 Northland SC – Epping Plaza via Reservoir RS, Ruthven RS,Keon Park RS, Thomastown RS, Lalor RS●●●●● 556 Northland SC – Epping Plaza via Reservoir RS, Epping RS●●●●● 557 Thomastown – Thomastown via Lalor RS●●●●● 558 Reservoir – Reservoir●●●●● 559 Thomastown – Thomastown via Lalor RS●●●●● 575 Thomastown – Epping North via Epping Plaza SC, Epping RS●●●●● 577 Epping Plaza – South Morang RS via Epping RS

With Dysons, it launched the East West Bus Company joint venture,operating routes:●●●●● 561 Coburg – Macleod via Reservoir RS, La Trobe University, MacleodRS●●●●● 570 Thomastown – RMIT Bundoora via Lalor Plaza SC

Two routes are now operated under the East West Bus Company nameafter the 560 Broadmeadows-Greensborough and the 571 Epping-SouthMorang services were replaced by the 902 SmartBus and the extensionof the Epping train line to South Morang. The arterial service is operatedjointly with Grenda, which is now run by the Ventura line.

One former employee

recalled the advice

he was given by one

of the proprietors,

John Cooper: ‘You

are carrying the most

precious cargo of all

- human lives’

BUS STOP

Observer Editor ASH LONG says he still gets ribbed by his fam-

ily about his young teenage hobby of buses, timetables and tick-

ets. He takes a bus ride down memory lane.

Bus services grow

●●●●● Laurie Dyson

Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - Page 19www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

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Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

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Victoria Pictorial Spring Racing CarnivalHistoric Photo Collection

●●●●● Members’ car park. 1975.●●●●● Melbourne Cup. 1889.

●●●●● Melbourne Cup. 1881.

●●●●● Phar Lap finishes in the Melbourne Cup, 1930. ●●●●● Prince Charles and Diana at Flemington. 1985.

●●●●● Rounding the turn by the river. 1883. ●●●●● Melbourne Cup. 1890.

●●●●● John Elliott at the 1985 Melbourne Cup


Healthy Living

WINNING FAREWELL


ObserverMelbourne

Victorian Sport

Racing

BriefsHarness Racing

with Len Baker

[email protected]

ObserverMelbourne

Baker’s Delight

In the winner’s stall■ Gillieston trainer Russ Thomson was in the win-ners stall at Bray Raceway Ballarat on TuesdayOctober 30, when 5-Y-0 Yankee Paco/Makati Av-enue gelding Yankee Avenue greeted the judge inthe Matthews Joinery Trotters Mobile for T0 classover 2200 metres.

Driven by Daryl Douglas, Yankee Avenue fromthe extreme draw was sent forward to park outsidethe pacemaker Rakos (gate four), before outstay-ing his rivals to record his second victory in 15 out-ings, defeating Yeringberg (three back the mark-ers) and Rakos in a rate of 2-03.4.

Straight from the heart■ Veteran Charltonian Matt Donaldson has mademany visits to Mildura over the years and was suc-cessful there on Wednesday, when his 8-Y-0 JetLaag/Breakers Dream mare Breakmyheart scoredin the aptly named Heartbeat Sunraysia Pace forC1 class over 2190 metres.

Driven by Ararat based Michael Bellman,Breakmyheart (gate three) did all of the work in therace parked outside the heavily supported leaderOur Cicero (gate five), before outstaying her rivalsto gain the day in a mile rate of 2-03.8 over OurCicero and Panorama Madi which followed thepacemaker from the pole.

It was Breakmyheart's third victory in 54 raceappearances.

100th outing■ St Arnaud trainer Brian Kiesey combined withMick Bellman to land the Zilzie Wines The Re-gional Collection Pace for C1 class over 2190 metreswith 7-Y-0 Man Ona Flight/Inka Bromac geldingNicmac Bromac who was having his 100th outing atthe races.

Settling three back in the running line from gatefive, Nicmac Bromac when eased wide to give chaseon turning, rattled home at 100 miles an hour torecord a runaway victory in advance of CullensQueen and Xavier Jack in 2-01.1.

Took concession■ Melton trainer Brent Lilley who is almost readyto re-locate to Bolinda, was successful with 6-Y-0Armbro Invasion/Second Guess geldingAbbotshall at Bray Raceway Ballarat on TuesdayOctober 30, taking out the National Tiles TrottersHandicap for T1 or better class over 2200 metres.

Taking a concession for stable reinsman BobButt, Abbotshall possied mid-field in the movingline from a 10 metre handicap, with the bold frontrunner Lovable Nick heading the field from outsidethe front row.

Finishing best, Abbotshall scored by 3.8 metresfrom the pacemaker in a rate of 2-04.3, withOrlandos Dream (one/one) third.

Damian takes honours■ Rockbank trainer Damian Wilson who was se-riously injured in a spectacular fall at Kilmore onSunday, was victorious with honest 5-Y-0 JohnStreet North/Trouble Chaton mare Latoya Lass inthe Greg Maney Plumbing Pace for C1 class over2200 metres after taking a concession.

With Jodi Quinlan in the sulky, Latoya Lassfrom inside the second line settled three back alongthe markers, with Maree Caldow's My Sirena lead-ing from the pole.

Gaining an inside passage halfway up the run-ning, Latoya Lass outsprinted her rivals to gain theday in advance of Rock On Tiger off the back of theweakening leader who finished third. The mile rate2-00 even.

■ Bonny five year oldmare Highview Ebonymay have left Victoria ona high note after winningthe @mickpolster PacersHandicap for C1 or betterclass over 2240 metres atTabcorp Park Melton onFriday.

Re-handicapped to adaunting 30 metrebackmark following a vic-tory at Ballarat four daysearlier, Highview Ebonywith Chris Alford in thesulky for Dean Braun gal-loped away adding to herhandicap, settling at the tailof the field with the excep-tion of Loving Life Lombowhich began badly frombarrier two.

Sent forward threewide racing for the bell,Highview Ebony had to bedriven along to move out-side the pacemakerMyrniong Panorama inthe back straight on the fi-nal occasion whose driverTony Xiriha had allowedto run along.

Taking a slender leadat the straight entrance,Highview Ebony defied allchallengers in the run tothe wire, scoring a gamevictory in advance of OnThe Lure (one/one) aftermoving to the breeze witha circuit to travel, with theroughie Nova Arama thirdfrom mid-field after fac-ing the open in the earlystages. The mile rate 2-00.3.

A daughter of BettorsDelight and Highview Mis-tress raced by Tony andPam Coniglio, HighviewEbony has recorded 13wins from 52 race appear-ances.

It appears highly likelythat Highview Ebony willnext appear in Queenslandunder the care of VickiRasmussen and ShaneGraham at the GoldCoast.

It was a great night forthe Coniglios, as recentKiwi purchase MajorSteppe a colt by Art Ma-jor from Savanah BlueJeans made it three fromthree by taking the Alabar3-Y-0 Pace over 2240metres from Union Fameand Easy Lightning in arate of 2-03.4.

Nathan Jack was thewinning reinsman.

Trainer Braun alongwith Alford also enjoyed aprofitable evening, as su-perstar Chancellor Cullen(Christian Cullen/NiveaFranco) continued on hiswinning spree with an ef-fortless victory in the$15,000 SEW-EurodrivePace Final for M0 & M1class over 2240 metresprior to heading west tocompete in a series of richfour year old races culmi-nating in the Golden Nug-get.

Sweet run■ Heywood trainerKevin Brough combinedwith Terang reinsmanMatt Craven to land theRay Mills Life MemberPace for C0 class (mares)over 1700 metres atHorsham on Monday Oc-tober 29 with Signs AndWonders, a 4-Y-0 daugh-ter of Life Sign and NadiaLombo.

Given a sweet passageone/one from gate two,Signs And Wondersproved too strong at thefinish for Dulcies Dilemmawhich followed herthroughout, with the poleline pacemaker Dont BeSilly Mia third. The milerate 1-58.5.

Double■ Craven was to com-plete a driving doublewhen successful aboardTerang trainer DarrenCole's 6-Y-0 JennasBeach Boy/Gypsy RoseLombo gelding Bohe-mian Lombo in theWimmera Mail-TimesVicbred Pace for C1 classover 2200 metres.

Despite racing in theopen from gate five, Bo-hemian Lombo defied allchallengers to score fromLife Of Ted which trailedthe weakening leaderWalking Ona Dream andFinal Riot off a three widetrail last lap in a rate of 2-02.9.

Half head■ Woorndoo trainerBob Mahncke shared thehonours for the day withMatt Craven by providinga long shot stable double,Taniwha ($81.70) in theRosehill Veterinary Ser-vices Pace for C1 classover 1700 metres and Ex-tricate ($53.10) in theMister Big @ Alabar Pacefor C2 & C3 class over2200 metres.

Four year old mareTaniwha (McArdle/Jag-uar Strike) driven byEllen Tormey enjoyed asoft trip one/one from gate

three, finishing best to de-feat Mosquito Flyer (one/two) and Guvs Boy whichled in a rate of 1-59.9,while 7-Y-0 Die Laugh-ing/Forest Flame geldingExtricate (Greg Sugars)ran home strongly fromwell back to score fromthe pacemaker Macy Lila,Bronze Destiny and ShezThe Barmaid in a blanketfinish, returning a mile rateof 2-00.9. The marginsbeing a half head, a halfhead, a head.

In control■ Peter Manning's 5-Y-0 Bettors Delight/Riminigelding The Adriatic ledthroughout from the polewith Greg Sugars in thesulky to capture the BG'SFolly @ Mountain ViewPace for C4 & C5 classover 2200 metres atHorsham in a rate of 2-01, much to the delight ofprolific owners Merv andMeg Butterworth.

Always in control, TheAdriatic scored by 1.2metres from Stephs Cae-sar off a three wide traillast lap and Hellovaparty(one/two).

Consistent■ Ararat trainer TerryYoung combined withEllen Tormey to snare theConch Deville TrottersHandicap for T0 or betterclass over 2200 metreswith consistent 5-Y-0 Earl/Dainty Dolly gelding EarlOf Charity.

Lobbing on the back ofthe leader Candy Diggerfrom the 20 metre mark,Earl Of Charity whentaken into the clear on turn-ing ran home well to scorefrom a death-seating OllieNova and Candy Diggerin a rate of 2-06.8.

Both Ellen Tormey andGreg Sugars also regis-tered driving doubles dur-ing the day.

- Len Baker

Another win at Ballarat■ Terry Young was again a winner at Bray Race-way Ballarat on Tuesday, when honest 4-Y-0 ArtMajor/Nukelyn gelding Majorflex snared the GaryMoy Water Cartage Vicbred Pace for C0 class over2200 metres, much to the delight of owner TerryCahill.

Driven by Daryl Douglas, Majorflex from gatethree on the second line settled three back along themarkers, with the pole marker Al Oh Al Ae Lolaleading from the pole.

Gaining inside runs on straightening, Majorflexfinished best to gain the day in advance of SopranosFury which trailed the front runner, also receivingan inside passage, with Longtan Liberator third af-ter being sent forward to race in the open. The milerate 2-02.9.

Loves runs at Mildura■ Ararat based Michael Bellman loves competingat Mildura meetings and snared a driving doublethere on Wednesday, piloting Charlton trainer MattDonaldson's 8-Y-0 mare Breakmyheart to victoryin the Heartbeat Sunraysia Pace for C1 class over2190 metres and Nicmac Bromac for St Arnaud'sBrian Kiesey in the Zilzie Wines The Regional Col-lection Pace for C1 class over the same journey.

Worth the journey■ Talented young reinsman Zac Phillips travelleda long way to snare a driving double at the Mildurameeting held on Wednesday October 31, landing theZilzie Wins Pace for C2 class over 2190 metresaboard Bolinda trainer Vince Vallelonga's 6-Y-0 DM Dilinger/Exotic Love entire Fergus MacCool,while also steering Bolinda trainer Paul Males' 5-Y-0 Bettors Delight/Cosmopolitan gelding Bettor War-rior to victory in the Zilzie Bulloak Wines Pace forC1 class over 1790 metres, both taking a conces-sion.

Fergus MacCool was quickly away from an in-side second line draw to possie three back in therunning line, moving three wide in the last lap to leadon turning in accounting for the heavily supportedOur Walden Bury from near last in a rate of 2-00.2,with Tandragee third.

Bettor Warrior always looked the winner afterleading from the pole and was never in any danger,coasting to the wire well in advance of Saint Peters-burg (one/one) and Coalemus. The mile rate 2-00.4.

Hall of Fame dinner■ One of harness racing's ‘night of nights’ - the 4thannual Hallf of Fame Dinner, presented by HRV,VHRMA & SEW-Eurodrive is to be held at TabcorpPark Melton on Thursday November 29 commenc-ing at 6.30pm.

Limited tickets ($75 all inclusive) for a threecourse meal and drinks are available from MiriamGandolfo or Bernie Bensley at HRV (8378 0200),Gordon Lockman (9435 0732) or myself (0401 679745).

Who will be inducted this year ?

This Week’s Meetings■ Wednesday - Kilmore,■ Thursday - Yarra Valley,■ Friday - Melton,■ Saturday - Ballarat,■ Sunday - St Arnaud (Cup),■ Monday - Cobram,■ Tuesday - Ararat.

Horses To Follow■ Cape N Cutter, Cityscape, Kurahaupo Quin,Forest Fury, Final Riot, Nova Arama, Union Fame.


ShowBiz Social ClubAt Bentleigh Club

Monday night (Oct. 22)Photos: Gigi Hellmuth

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www.MelbourneObserver.com.au Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - Page 35

breath as though they feared to add the slightestpuff to the wind which was swaying the twounfortunate men.In the meantime, the convict had succeeded inlowering himself to a position near the sailor. Itwas high time; one minute more, and the ex-hausted and despairing man would have allowedhimself to fall into the abyss. The convict hadmoored him securely with the cord to which heclung with one hand, while he was working withthe other. At last, he was seen to climb back onthe yard, and to drag the sailor up after him; heheld him there a moment to allow him to re-cover his strength, then he grasped him in hisarms and carried him, walking on the yard him-self to the cap, and from there to the main-top,where he left him in the hands of his comradesAt that moment the crowd broke into applause:old convict-sergeants among them wept, andwomen embraced each other on the quay, andall voices were heard to cry with a sort of tenderrage, “Pardon for that man!”He, in the meantime, had immediately begun tomake his descent to rejoin his detachment. Inorder to reach them the more speedily, hedropped into the rigging, and ran along one ofthe lower yards; all eyes were following him. Ata certain moment fear assailed them; whether itwas that he was fatigued, or that his head turned,they thought they saw him hesitate and stagger.All at once the crowd uttered a loud shout: theconvict had fallen into the sea.The fall was perilous. The frigate Algesiras wasanchored alongside the Orion, and the poor con-vict had fallen between the two vessels: it wasto be feared that he would slip under one or theother of them. Four men flung themselves hast-ily into a boat; the crowd cheered them on; anxi-ety again took possession of all souls; the manhad not risen to the surface; he had disappearedin the sea without leaving a ripple, as though hehad fallen into a cask of oil: they sounded, theydived. In vain. The search was continued untilthe evening: they did not even find the body.On the following day the Toulon newspaperprinted these lines:—“Nov. 17, 1823. Yesterday, a convict belongingto the detachment on board of the Orion, on hisreturn from rendering assistance to a sailor, fellinto the sea and was drowned. The body has notyet been found; it is supposed that it is entangledamong the piles of the Arsenal point: this manwas committed under the number 9,430, and hisname was Jean Valjean.”Moreover, if one plays at cards, one is sure tolose all that one possesses! and as for the pow-der in the horn, it possesses the property of mak-ing your gun burst in your face.Now, a very short time after the epoch when itseemed to the prosecuting attorney that the lib-erated convict Jean Valjean during his flight ofseveral days had been prowling aroundMontfermeil, it was remarked in that village thata certain old road-laborer, named Boulatruelle,had “peculiar ways” in the forest. People there-abouts thought they knew that this Boulatruellehad been in the galleys. He was subjected tocertain police supervision, and, as he could findwork nowhere, the administration employed himat reduced rates as a road-mender on the cross-road from Gagny to Lagny.This Boulatruelle was a man who was viewedwith disfavor by the inhabitants of the district astoo respectful, too humble, too prompt in remov-ing his cap to every one, and trembling and smil-ing in the presence of the gendarmes,— prob-ably affiliated to robber bands, they said; sus-pected of lying in ambush at verge of copses atnightfall. The only thing in his favor was that hewas a drunkard.This is what people thought they had noticed:—Of late, Boulatruelle had taken to quitting histask of stone-breaking and care of the road at avery early hour, and to betaking himself to theforest with his pickaxe. He was encounteredtowards evening in the most deserted clearings,in the wildest thickets; and he had the appear-ance of being in search of something, and some-times he was digging holes. The goodwives whopassed took him at first for Beelzebub; then theyrecognized Boulatruelle, and were not in the leastreassured thereby. These encounters seemed to

were turned aside that his fall might not be seen.There are moments when a bit of rope, a pole,the branch of a tree, is life itself, and it is aterrible thing to see a living being detach him-self from it and fall like a ripe fruit.All at once a man was seen climbing into therigging with the agility of a tiger-cat; this manwas dressed in red; he was a convict; he wore agreen cap; he was a life convict. On arriving ona level with the top, a gust of wind carried awayhis cap, and allowed a perfectly white head tobe seen: he was not a young man.A convict employed on board with a detach-ment from the galleys had, in fact, at the veryfirst instant, hastened to the officer of the watch,and, in the midst of the consternation and thehesitation of the crew, while all the sailors weretrembling and drawing back, he had asked theofficer’s permission to risk his life to save thetopman; at an affirmative sign from the officerhe had broken the chain riveted to his ankle withone blow of a hammer, then he had caught up arope, and had dashed into the rigging: no onenoticed, at the instant, with what ease that chainhad been broken; it was only later on that theincident was recalled.In a twinkling he was on the yard; he paused fora few seconds and appeared to be measuring itwith his eye; these seconds, during which thebreeze swayed the topman at the extremity of athread, seemed centuries to those who were look-ing on. At last, the convict raised his eyes toheaven and advanced a step: the crowd drew along breath. He was seen to run out along theyard: on arriving at the point, he fastened therope which he had brought to it, and allowed theother end to hang down, then he began to de-scend the rope, hand over hand, and then,— andthe anguish was indescribable,— instead of oneman suspended over the gulf, there were two.One would have said it was a spider coming toseize a fly, only here the spider brought life, notdeath. Ten thousand glances were fastened onthis group; not a cry, not a word; the same tremorcontracted every brow; all mouths held their

cleaning had affected the bolts of the keel: inthe neighborhood of the Balearic Isles the sideshad been strained and had opened; and, as theplating in those days was not of sheet iron, thevessel had sprung a leak. A violent equinoctialgale had come up, which had first staved in agrating and a porthole on the larboard side, anddamaged the foretop-gallant-shrouds; in conse-quence of these injuries, the Orion had run backto Toulon.It anchored near the Arsenal; it was fullyequipped, and repairs were begun. The hull hadreceived no damage on the starboard, but someof the planks had been unnailed here and there,according to custom, to permit of air enteringthe hold.One morning the crowd which was gazing at itwitnessed an accident.The crew was busy bending the sails; the top-man, who had to take the upper corner of themain-top-sail on the starboard, lost his balance;he was seen to waver; the multitude throngingthe Arsenal quay uttered a cry; the man’s headoverbalanced his body; the man fell around theyard, with his hands outstretched towards theabyss; on his way he seized the footrope, firstwith one hand, then with the other, and remainedhanging from it: the sea lay below him at a dizzydepth; the shock of his fall had imparted to thefoot-rope a violent swinging motion; the manswayed back and forth at the end of that rope,like a stone in a sling.It was incurring a frightful risk to go to his assis-tance; not one of the sailors, all fishermen of thecoast, recently levied for the service, dared toattempt it. In the meantime, the unfortunate top-man was losing his strength; his anguish couldnot be discerned on his face, but his exhaustionwas visible in every limb; his arms were con-tracted in horrible twitchings; every effort whichhe made to re-ascend served but to augment theoscillations of the foot-rope; he did not shout, forfear of exhausting his strength. All were await-ing the minute when he should release his holdon the rope, and, from instant to instant, heads Continued on Page 36

●●●●● Victor Hugo

A ship of the line is composed, at the same time,of the heaviest and the lightest of possible mat-ter, for it deals at one and the same time withthree forms of substance,— solid, liquid, andfluid,— and it must do battle with all three. It haseleven claws of iron with which to seize thegranite on the bottom of the sea, and more wingsand more antennae than winged insects, to catchthe wind in the clouds. Its breath pours outthrough its hundred and twenty cannons asthrough enormous trumpets, and replies proudlyto the thunder. The ocean seeks to lead it astrayin the alarming sameness of its billows, but thevessel has its soul, its compass, which counselsit and always shows it the north. In the blackestnights, its lanterns supply the place of the stars.Thus, against the wind, it has its cordage and itscanvas; against the water, wood; against therocks, its iron, brass, and lead; against the shad-ows, its light; against immensity, a needle.If one wishes to form an idea of all those gigan-tic proportions which, taken as a whole, consti-tute the ship of the line, one has only to enter oneof the six-story covered construction stocks, inthe ports of Brest or Toulon. The vessels in pro-cess of construction are under a bell-glass there,as it were. This colossal beam is a yard; thatgreat column of wood which stretches out onthe earth as far as the eye can reach is the main-mast. Taking it from its root in the stocks to itstip in the clouds, it is sixty fathoms long, and itsdiameter at its base is three feet. The Englishmain-mast rises to a height of two hundred andseventeen feet above the water-line. The navyof our fathers employed cables, ours employschains. The simple pile of chains on a ship of ahundred guns is four feet high, twenty feet inbreadth, and eight feet in depth. And how muchwood is required to make this ship? Three thou-sand cubic metres. It is a floating forest.And moreover, let this be borne in mind, it isonly a question here of the military vessel offorty years ago, of the simple sailing-vessel;steam, then in its infancy, has since added newmiracles to that prodigy which is called a warvessel. At the present time, for example, themixed vessel with a screw is a surprising ma-chine, propelled by three thousand squaremetres of canvas and by an engine of two thou-sand five hundred horse-power.Not to mention these new marvels, the ancientvessel of Christopher Columbus and of De Ruyteris one of the masterpieces of man. It is as inex-haustible in force as is the Infinite in gales; itstores up the wind in its sails, it is precise in theimmense vagueness of the billows, it floats, andit reigns.There comes an hour, nevertheless, when thegale breaks that sixty-foot yard like a straw, whenthe wind bends that mast four hundred feet tall,when that anchor, which weighs tens of thou-sands, is twisted in the jaws of the waves like afisherman’s hook in the jaws of a pike, whenthose monstrous cannons utter plaintive and fu-tile roars, which the hurricane bears forth intothe void and into night, when all that power andall that majesty are engulfed in a power andmajesty which are superior.Every time that immense force is displayed toculminate in an immense feebleness it affordsmen food for thought, Hence in the ports curiouspeople abound around these marvellous ma-chines of war and of navigation, without beingable to explain perfectly to themselves why.Every day, accordingly, from morning until night,the quays, sluices, and the jetties of the port ofToulon were covered with a multitude of idlersand loungers, as they say in Paris, whose busi-ness consisted in staring at the Orion.The Orion was a ship that had been ailing for along time; in the course of its previous cruisesthick layers of barnacles had collected on itskeel to such a degree as to deprive it of half itsspeed; it had gone into the dry dock the yearbefore this, in order to have the barnaclesscraped off, then it had put to sea again; but this

CHAPTER iii

THE ANKLE-CHAIN MUST HAVE UN-

DERGONE A CERTAIN PREPARATORY

MANIPULATION TO BE THUS BROKEN

WITH A BLOW FROM A HAMMER

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Observer Crossword Solution No 19

worked until seven o’clock in the evening insummer, and five in winter; and night once comeand the shutters on the ground floor once closed,he who had no water to drink went to fetch it forhimself or did without it.This constituted the terror of the poor creaturewhom the reader has probably not forgotten,—little Cosette. It will be remembered that Cosettewas useful to the Thenardiers in two ways: theymade the mother pay them, and they made thechild serve them. So when the mother ceased topay altogether, the reason for which we haveread in preceding chapters, the Thenardiers keptCosette. She took the place of a servant in theirhouse. In this capacity she it was who ran tofetch water when it was required. So the child,who was greatly terrified at the idea of going tothe spring at night, took great care that watershould never be lacking in the house.Christmas of the year 1823 was particularly bril-liant at Montfermeil. The beginning of the win-ter had been mild; there had been neither snownor frost up to that time. Some mountebanksfrom Paris had obtained permission of the mayorto erect their booths in the principal street of thevillage, and a band of itinerant merchants, un-der protection of the same tolerance, had con-structed their stalls on the Church Square, andeven extended them into Boulanger Alley, where,as the reader will perhaps remember, theThenardiers’ hostelry was situated. These peoplefilled the inns and drinking-shops, and commu-nicated to that tranquil little district a noisy andjoyous life. In order to play the part of a faithfulhistorian, we ought even to add that, among thecuriosities displayed in the square, there was amenagerie, in which frightful clowns, clad inrags and coming no one knew whence, exhib-ited to the peasants of Montfermeil in 1823 oneof those horrible Brazilian vultures, such as ourRoyal Museum did not possess until 1845, andwhich have a tricolored cockade for an eye. Ibelieve that naturalists call this bird CaracaraPolyborus; it belongs to the order of the Apicides,and to the family of the vultures. Some good oldBonapartist soldiers, who had retired to the vil-lage, went to see this creature with great devo-tion. The mountebanks gave out that the tricol-ored cockade was a unique phenomenon madeby God expressly for their menagerie.

to see, at a nook of the forest in the underbrush,a shovel and a pickaxe, concealed, as one mightsay.However, he might have supposed that they wereprobably the shovel and pick of Father Six–Fours, the water-carrier, and would have thoughtno more about it. But, on the evening of that day,he saw, without being seen himself, as he washidden by a large tree, “a person who did notbelong in those parts, and whom he,Boulatruelle, knew well,” directing his steps to-wards the densest part of the wood. Translationby Thenardier: A comrade of the galleys.Boulatruelle obstinately refused to reveal hisname. This person carried a package — some-thing square, like a large box or a small trunk.Surprise on the part of Boulatruelle. However, itwas only after the expiration of seven or eightminutes that the idea of following that “person”had occurred to him. But it was too late; theperson was already in the thicket, night had de-scended, and Boulatruelle had not been able tocatch up with him. Then he had adopted thecourse of watching for him at the edge of thewoods. “It was moonlight.” Two or three hourslater, Boulatruelle had seen this person emergefrom the brushwood, carrying no longer the cof-fer, but a shovel and pick. Boulatruelle had al-lowed the person to pass, and had not dreamedof accosting him, because he said to himselfthat the other man was three times as strong ashe was, and armed with a pickaxe, and that hewould probably knock him over the head on rec-ognizing him, and on perceiving that he wasrecognized. Touching effusion of two old com-rades on meeting again. But the shovel and pickhad served as a ray of light to Boulatruelle; hehad hastened to the thicket in the morning, andhad found neither shovel nor pick. From this hehad drawn the inference that this person, oncein the forest, had dug a hole with his pick, buriedthe coffer, and reclosed the hole with his shovel.Now, the coffer was too small to contain a body;therefore it contained money. Hence his re-searches. Boulatruelle had explored, sounded,searched the entire forest and the thicket, andhad dug wherever the earth appeared to him tohave been recently turned up. In vain.He had “ferreted out” nothing. No one inMontfermeil thought any more about it. Therewere only a few brave gossips, who said, “You

may be certain that the mender on the Gagnyroad did not take all that trouble for nothing; hewas sure that the devil had come.”

cause Boulatruelle a lively displeasure. It wasevident that he sought to hide, and that therewas some mystery in what he was doing.It was said in the village: “It is clear that thedevil has appeared. Boulatruelle has seen him,and is on the search. In sooth, he is cunningenough to pocket Lucifer’s hoard.”The Voltairians added, “Will Boulatruelle catchthe devil, or will the devil catch Boulatruelle?”The old women made a great many signs of thecross.In the meantime, Boulatruelle’s manoeuvres inthe forest ceased; and he resumed his regularoccupation of roadmending; and people gossipedof something else.Some persons, however, were still curious, sur-mising that in all this there was probably no fabu-lous treasure of the legends, but some fine wind-fall of a more serious and palpable sort than thedevil’s bank-bills, and that the road-mender hadhalf discovered the secret. The most “puzzled”were the school-master and Thenardier, the pro-prietor of the tavern, who was everybody’s friend,and had not disdained to ally himself withBoulatruelle..“He has been in the galleys,” said Thenardier.“Eh! Good God! no one knows who has beenthere or will be there.”One evening the schoolmaster affirmed that informer times the law would have instituted aninquiry as to what Boulatruelle did in the forest,and that the latter would have been forced tospeak, and that he would have been put to thetorture in case of need, and that Boulatruellewould not have resisted the water test, for ex-ample. “Let us put him to the wine test,” saidThenardier.They made an effort, and got the old road-mender to drinking. Boulatruelle drank an enor-mous amount, but said very little. He combinedwith admirable art, and in masterly proportions,the thirst of a gormandizer with the discretion ofa judge. Nevertheless, by dint of returning to thecharge and of comparing and putting togetherthe few obscure words which he did allow toescape him, this is what Thenardier and theschoolmaster imagined that they had madeout:—One morning, when Boulatruelle was on his wayto his work, at daybreak, he had been surprised ●●●●● To Be Continued Next Week

A D J U S T A B L E D A S H O F F S C R U N C H I N G

D U P G U S O T L A S H R O M O

U N D E R G O S W O O L T U B A A G R A B B E D

L D I G T H U M P D E L D E R E R I D

T R E A T Y G R I N S S A Y E L G A R U S A B L E

E R Y E P R O N G S P I E S Y O D E L E K E S

R O S E F L O U T C A U S T I C S E A L S A D D S

E P I O U S Y A R D P U S S C O O P E

R E V E R E N T R A C I S T S L A D H Y D R A N T S

Y B U L K D E N T S C L I D O D O E R E

S E C O N D K H A K I C I A O L A D Y M E D A L S

U O N E R E A D S S R A T Y E A H N E T H

G R E Y D E R B Y M E L F R A U S K E W N O T A

A R R A B B I R E M I T S I F T S A W N M V

R E C E I V E S S O L I C I T L O A D T W O T I M E

Y I N I L M A L T K E E L S C A M E S S

T O A D S G U L F W R A I D O B O E L I E D

T I N J A U N T R A Y S C A B S A G O D A R

G S O R D I D M A X I I L I E N Y L O N R

C H A I N S L A B F E E S T A B R I P E O A T H

T A X E D E N I D S L A M I M I N T G N U S

D R O A K E A R L D H A L P A N G A D O

R E D E F I N E S E A M A R I S I N G B U L L I O N

U V F L E A S W O E S T E A T S M A N E T H

M E A D Y E S E S S A C K U P S L I N O D I V A

U R A G L E A K S L A Y S R O S S D A N N

P E K I N G D R A I N R O D E J E T S F O R G E D

R S A L E S T E E D T P I E S S I D E L

B A B Y T A L K E V E R O N C A L L K I N G D O M S

E S C O N E E D A M A C T M E L E E E

F L A N E P I C S S K I L I F T M A L L S M A M A

U R A M E T H E R E L I T E M A I L S M A P F

D O C T O R S E T O N L O S N A N N Y H O O P L A

D H B I L S D L N M A I N S E R E R

L E A F I E R O E D I T C O I N A L U G G A G E

E I L A N O U R A L E I L U S R

D E C R E E N I S I G A D G E T S S L E E V E L E S S

BOOK THIRD.— ACCOMPLISHMENT

OF THE PROMISE MADE

TO THE DEAD WOMAN

CHAPTER I

THE WATER QUESTION AT

MONTFERMEIL

Montfermeil is situated between Livry andChelles, on the southern edge of that lofty table-land which separates the Ourcq from the Marne.At the present day it is a tolerably large town,ornamented all the year through with plaster vil-las, and on Sundays with beaming bourgeois. In1823 there were at Montfermeil neither so manywhite houses nor so many well-satisfied citi-zens: it was only a village in the forest. Somepleasure-houses of the last century were to bemet with there, to be sure, which were recog-nizable by their grand air, their balconies intwisted iron, and their long windows, whose tinypanes cast all sorts of varying shades of greenon the white of the closed shutters; butMontfermeil was none the less a village. Re-tired cloth-merchants and rusticating attorneyshad not discovered it as yet; it was a peacefuland charming place, which was not on the roadto anywhere: there people lived, and cheaply,that peasant rustic life which is so bounteousand so easy; only, water was rare there, on ac-count of the elevation of the plateau.It was necessary to fetch it from a considerabledistance; the end of the village towards Gagnydrew its water from the magnificent ponds whichexist in the woods there. The other end, whichsurrounds the church and which lies in the di-rection of Chelles, found drinking-water only ata little spring half-way down the slope, near theroad to Chelles, about a quarter of an hour fromMontfermeil.Thus each household found it hard work to keepsupplied with water. The large houses, the aris-tocracy, of which the Thenardier tavern formeda part, paid half a farthing a bucketful to a manwho made a business of it, and who earned abouteight sous a day in his enterprise of supplyingMontfermeil with water; but this good man only

Melbourne Observer. 121107B. November 7, 2012. Part B. Pages 17-25, 28-36

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