IN THE late 1940s the Journal published a series of cartoons by Alec Brierley under the heading Looking Back on the Good Old Days.
The detailed sketches are humorous vignettes of Dandenong’s early history accompanied by a short yarn explaining the historical context of the moment captured in ink.
One of the cartoons titled Local industry – 1866 shows people holding their noses in disgust as they pass ‘Dandenong Tannery’.
In his accompanying text Brierley wrote “A tannery, one of the first outside Melbourne, was established on a slope in Gordon Park, facing Kidd’s Rd. It was a doubtful boon to the community, as up till that time it had been generally believed there were no blow-flies in the district!”
Alec Brierley began putting his own interpretation on Dandenong’s early history after reading George F. Roulston’s book, Dandenong’s Early History.
Another cartoon shows Dandenong’s first school as a tent beneath a tree. The headmaster rings a small bell watched by four students ready to start their lessons.
In the caption Brierley wrote “1851 – The First School Established – The school was started in a tent situated in Langhorne St. on the Church of England grant of land between the present church and Laurel Lodge. There were seven pupils at first, three of whom, being late on this particular morning, were naturally left out of the sketch”.
The Dandenong and District Historical Society holds many of Brierly’s original sketches.
In this special edition of the Dandenong Journal we reprint many of the cartoons.
We hope readers enjoy them as much as Brierley’s readers did in the 1940s.
