By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Civic pride was very much on display in Dandenong’s halcyon year of 1973.
A now-unbelievable 60,000 lined Lonsdale Street for a street parade as part of a week of celebrating the then-City of Dandenong’s 100 years of local government.
The parade’s bold name Pageant of Progress was befitting of the confident town that was emerging as a manufacturing powerhouse. The parade was said to rival the size of Moomba.
Now 50 years on, and with a little less fanfare, an exhibition Optimism, Opportunities and Achievement: A Reflection on the Centenary of Local Government in Dandenong in 1973 captures the flavour of those heady times.
Among the artefacts – and flavours – is the rather stodgy menu for the Centennial ball.
Special guests such as Supreme Court Chief Justice Sir Henry Winneke and Lady Winneke dined on an ‘Erin’ Stock Pot soup, lobster or fruit cocktail entrée, turkey, ham or beef with Yorkshire pudding mains and a plum pudding dessert.
All washed down with especially bottled Clare-Leasingham ‘centenary dinner’ wines.
A bottle of the claret was at the time buried along with other mementos in a time capsule in the grounds of the former Dandenong library.
There’s also an exhibit dedicated to the wildly popular Pageant of Progress, in which children are photographed leaning out of high windows of the now Drum Theatre to get a look.
A photo of City of Springvale’s eye-catching pageant float reveals people in futuristic costumes, wielding sports equipment such as archery bows and tennis racquets.
“The City of Springvale initially thought it was far too expensive to put a float in. But then mayor Bill Warner said that’s rubbish, we have to enter a float,” historian Chris Keys says.
Ultimately the Springvale entry took out the second prize.
During the week’s celebrations in 1973, the Dandenong Journal newspaper – in what must have been a monumental effort – published daily under the title Daily Journal.
Each day, it featured big-name guest columnists such as homegrown singer John Farnham, TV star Bert Newton and VFL football greats Jack Dyer, Carl Ditterich and Sam Kekovich. As well as giving away $5000 prizes – equivalent to more than $50,000 in today’s economy.
A nostalgic highlight of the exhibition is a colour film of the hustle and bustle of Dandenong’s Lonsdale Street in 1973. This was also uncovered in the 1973 time capsule buried at Clow Street.
That same boulevard in which an unknown author described travelling in a bullock dray and weaving around trees and tree stumps in the 1850s, Ms Keys says.
The writer observed Dunbar’s Hotel along with shanties, wattle-and-daub huts and tents lining the main street.
By bullock wagon, the 25 kilometre trek from Brighton to Dandenong spanned six hours.
“Between Brighton and Dandenong they never saw a house,” Ms Keys said.
Storyboards tell of the creation of Dandenong and its early pioneering history of squatting. The names feature so prominently now in street and suburb names such as Thomas and John Keys and Captain Lonsdale.
The exhibits also include the fur-trimmed former mayoral robes of Springvale and Dandenong councils, as well as the ex-mayoral chair from City of Dandenong, and the official declaration of the councils’ coats of arms and crests.
There’s also a treasure trove of photographs capturing Dandenong 50 years ago, as well as civic leaders such as then-mayor Warren S Titcher.
Mayor Titcher wrote in his Centennial Message at the time that “situated as it is, between the State capital and the Latrobe Valley, the area is well suited to industry and yet retains many pleasant residential areas.
“It is hoped that the growth in the next 100 years will make Dandenong a major industrial complex in the State, and with proper planning, achieve this result without disturbing the traditional character of our City – a place in which to work , to live and to play.”
– Optimism, Opportunities and Achievement: A Reflection on the Centenary of Local Government in Dandenong in 1973 Exhibition is at Benga, Heritage Hill Museum and Historic Gardens, 66 McCrae Street Dandenong until 31 May (open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to 2pm).
