The Huttons and Cooring Yering (part one)

George Hutton in the 1930s

The Huttons settle in Lilydale

George Hutton (son of William Forbes Hutton) had arrived in Victoria from England in August 1869. His father arrived in the colony in May 1871. William decided to purchase land in Lilydale several months after arrival in the colony. Many years later (in the 1930s) George recorded his memories of the family's first years on the property.

Father having bought Cooring Yering, a 400 acre farm at Lilydale – a village 25 miles east of Melbourne on the Olinda Creek, a tributary of the Yarra. It was named after Mrs Paul de Castella who was a daughter of Colonel Anderson, the Commander of the Garrison of Victoria at the time. Mt Juliet was named after another daughter. … Father bought Cooring Yering from a Mr de Pury who had formed the farm and then returned to Switzerland for a holiday, but married and settled down there. Guillaume de Pury, his brother had married a Miss Iffitson who had a good bit of money I believe. At any rate he owned a big property 3,000 acres about eight miles from Lilydale and had a big vineyard, about 100 acres I believe in hearing it made a lot of wine each year.

The de Castellas also had big vineyards - Hubert de Castella’s 300 acres under vines being the biggest vineyard in Victoria at that time. There were other Swiss farmers and all had more or less land under vines. There were only 10 acres at Cooring Yering and we made about 4,000 gallons of wine a year. The trouble was that the country was not suitable for vines, being too rough except at the lower end of the existing vineyard, and if we had continued the vineyard towards the flat the frosts would have cut off the flowers every spring. Another thing was that wine requires several years age besides taking a lot of looking after before it is fit to drink and the price procurable did not pay interest on the cost of buildings, presses, casks etc. so was no game for a man unless he had capital. The de Castellas both went broke although Paul de Castella’s failure was really caused by speculating in cattle stations long before I knew them.

The farmers were all dairymen and mostly struggling for a living. It was too far to send the milk to Melbourne and the best butter only bought 6d a lb wholesale and it cost 2d a lb for carriage. Another thing was that many of the cows were poor milkers, pleuro-pneumonia having decimated the herds a few years previously and a good many of the cows then milking were rotten with tuberculosis. It was not until the railway came to the district that the farmers got on their legs again. A good deal of de Pury’s country was high, dry and well grassed and he had a flock of English sheep (Southdowns I think) and did well out of them, but most of the country was only fit for cattle in its natural state and not too good at that.

The flats were alright in the summer time but were too cold and wet during a great portion of the year especially along the river where most of the flats were flooded during the winter and more or less in the autumn and early spring. The soil on the hills was mostly a poor clay and the grasses growing on them of little value as feed except in the gullies between the hills where the kangaroo grass grew. On the flats the principal feed was white clover in the spring and summer months, at least in the improved country, which on the Olinda Creek been a ti-tree swamp originally cleared and drained at great expense. On Cooring Yering 100 acres had cost £11 an acre to clear and I do not know whether that included the cost of digging drains. The flats were too wet to grow wheat and most of the hill country was too dry. A lot of this poor country paid well later on as an orchard and raspberry gardens but I don’t know if it still does.

Father went in for fattening cattle but the flats were the only suitable country and the summer was too short to get off more than one mob or at the most two in a season, say 80 to 100 head, in fact during the winter the flats had to be shut off as the cattle puddled them too much and as there was no shelter from the wind and rain and was too cold for stock to do well on. Father bought the property in November too late in the season for fattening really poor cattle, so put on 80 heads of bullocks fat but wearied by travelling so practically sold as stones on a big market at Flemington and held them to freshen up. I took one lot into market the following May, but it had been a wet summer and they had not done well, besides hitting a big market, so did not sell as well as they ought to have done. Another thing was that we found our cattle from beyond the Murray required two summers to get acclimatised. In fact dairying, unless on had a big area of cheap country to breed on, was the only payable business. 

A cold wet winter and very little growth in the grass, so Father bought 300 acres of rent (ring) barked country on the opposite side of the valley adjoining Cooring Yering. Lots of grass but of course sour stuff, however it kept the stock going until spring. I did not like the country and could not see how it could be made to pay. Father’s idea was to grow hay on it and feed the cattle during the winter like they did in England, but he did not take into consideration the difference in the price of fat stock and also that cattle from New South Wales and the north and western parts of Victoria where the summer was longer could be put on to the market and sold at a profit for less than he could sell stall fed cattle after about 18 months trial he gave up cattle and went for crossbred sheep.

Going back to England shortly after the purchase of the sheep. He had bought Rowe’s Mount – 480 acres – and what was known as Jamieson’s – 200 (acres) just before he went. Both blocks were poor rough country, totally unfitted for sheep and only fenced for cattle. Of course we put in wires where possible, rolled logs under two rail fences and nailed saplings between the rails on the fence between Rourke’s and our flat paddocks. I may remark that this mob of sheep were the worst sheep I have ever known for getting through fences except a mob of 8,000 crossbred wethers belonging to C B Fisher a few years later in the Riverina. I had a pretty bad time with these sheep when Father was away. What between footrot, fluke and want of feed for I had to keep them off the flat as neither creeks nor fences were any obstacles for their wandering propensities. Father was very angry that I had kept the sheep off the flats and thought that I was pulling his leg when I told him that the saplings that he had nailed between the rails of Rourke’s fence crossing the flat were no good, the ewes got their heads under the saplings and dragged them off till he saw them do it himself. He soon stopped that however as he had imported some wire netting and sent for it at once. As soon as it arrived we put it up along Rourke’s fence and spent two or three hours laughing at the sheep trying to get through.

Shortly after Father returned to Melbourne I had told him that I was not going to stay at Cooring Yering but meant joining an over-landing party to bring cattle from Queensland. I had wanted to do this for some time but it was not easy to find a party going north. …

George worked with his father in Lilydale for several years as the property was established. In 1874 the rest of the family travelled from England to settle in Victoria and some of George's younger brothers were now available to assist their father. George told his father that he planned to head north to Queensland and follow new adventures.