General News
26 December, 2022
Old digger kept cycling
SUMMER READINGBy KEN ARNOLDERNIE Old was more interested in bike riding and farm machinery rather than farming. The Dingee blacksmith was part of the family that settled in the area and became avid cyclists. For the Olds, the Australian branch of the...
SUMMER READING
By KEN ARNOLD
ERNIE Old was more interested in bike riding and farm machinery rather than farming.
The Dingee blacksmith was part of the family that settled in the area and became avid cyclists.
For the Olds, the Australian branch of the family started when Thomas Spear Old, born May 6, 1843, Trevisker, Padstow, also recorded as St. Mervyn, Cornwall, England, to Theophilus and Mary Ann Old, nee Spear family emigrated on board the Indian on September 5, 1843, arriving in Launceston, Tasmania on January 1, 1844.
Old married Charlotte Mitchell in 1868 and to them were born George Thomas, 1869, Thomas Henry - 1872, both at Sebastopol, twins Ernest and Edith Ellen, July 10, 1874, at Barry’s Reef, near Blackwood, Victoria.
The family had selected land between Dingee and Prairie by the time Francis Edward was born on November 24, 1875, followed by John Mitchell, 1877 at Raywood, Ann Emily, 1879 at Mitiamo, and Charlotte, 1881 at Raywood.
As Charlotte had died in 1881 Old married Elizabeth Ann Johnson, nee Bassett, in 1895 and to them was born Elsie Elizabeth, at Yallock in 1896. This marriage was short lived as Elizabeth Ann died on February 15, 1896, aged 38 years.
Thomas Spear Old died in Swan Hill on May 15, 1926, being survived by five sons and four daughters.
The land the family had selected was south of Prairie in what is know known as Old’s road.
This was convenient for the family as a state school was erected close by prior to being moved into the small township, it then being on the road to Rochester.
The older boys worked on the family farm or as contract harvesters whilst their father often took contract work on the roads and approaches to bridges.
Old purchased a further 330 acres of land at Dingee in March 1891, cost £2/15/0 per acre.
At some stage Thomas Spear Old established a blacksmith in Queen street, Dingee, it being on or close by to the current day fire station.
On July 4, 1892 George, Ernie and Thomas moved onto land at Ultima, 22km west of Swan Hill.
As Ernie had learnt to ride a penny farthing bicycle the brothers built a cycle track. Francis and Ernie soon bought a new Humber bicycle with pneumatic tyres hence they were soon into competitive racing.
Bicycle riding obviously became a family affair as a farewell evening was held at the family home of Mr and Mrs Old who were about to cycle throughout New South Wales on July 30, 1897.
Dancing, recitations and fun was had but local Mr. Walker apparently brought the house down with his rendition of “How the Tree Grew.”
As a result the Dingee Cycling Club had been formed by October 1898 following quickly by the Dingee Ramblers Cycling Club - January 1899. Competitive road racing became a favourite past time they being enjoyed by all as were the fairs, sports days, school picnics, pigeon shooting, sport and dancing.
Ernie Old was obviously working at the blacksmith when he designed and built his scarifier, he taking out a patent for improvements in clamping devices, specially applicable to agricultural implements, No. 7080, October 5, 1906. This all steel scarifier had double ended tynes which could be inverted at lunch time before being resharpened at the end of the day. He was planning to exhibit one at the Rochester and Bendigo shows in October.
Sometime later on Old modified the tynes by using knock on knock off points which saved time at the blacksmith shop as the tynes did not have to be reshaped.
In the meantime Old entered the now famous 265km Melbourne to Warrnambool bicycle race, he pedalling from Dingee down to Melbourne and out to Warrnambool in readiness to compete on what he described as a horse track. The early races cannot have been any where as serious as they are today as one rider was a shearer who stopped every 70km to smoke a pipe full of tobacco. Punctures, drizzling rain, cobblestones and mud caused all sorts of problems.
Old finished eighth in 1901. The following year Old applied to join the 4th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, and embarked for South Africa. By the time he got there the war was over.
Old finished fourth under handicap in the 1903 road race, and was doing well in 1904 before he had a bad fall. Ernie Old held an auction to sell his farming plant and furniture so he could purchase the family blacksmith shop - February 26, 1909.
The Dingee Post Office was transfered from the railway station to the Old residence in September 1910. Ernie Old was instrumental in the formation of the Dingee Light Horse troop, some 25 recruits being present in readiness to be sworn in on August 10, 1912.
Applications for blocks of land in the Dingee Estate subdivision, adjoining the railway station, were opened in 1913. As irrigation water was now available Old applied for and was granted 54 acres at a cost of £10.5.0 per acre.
Old had manufactured his new patent “Nulli Secundus” steel scarifier cum lucerne cultivator which had easy lifting, double action levers, cranked beams to allow for short tynes and dust proof wheels, and a grading harrow by October 1913 when he displayed them at the Bendigo Agricultural and Horticultural Society show.
As Old had enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces on December 22, 1914 he left his blacksmith in the care of his brother Thomas, retired from the Dingee school committee and left to do his patriotic duty the following June. Old served with the 13th Light Horse Regiment at Gallipoli, on the Western Front with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion before being severely wounded at Flers, France, in November 1916. As a result he spent many months recuperating in the Plymouth Hospital, England as he was unable to walk far.
Finally Corporal Old was repatriated in December 1917 and discharged from the army on March 22, 1918, he and Corporal A.J. Moore being welcomed home with a coffee social and dance the following evening.
Old at once resumed work as a blacksmith and implement-maker, but he soon found that his scarifier had been superseded. As a result he invented and applied for a patent for improvements in steering devices for motor and other vehicles, No. 19503, September 6, 1921, he doing likewise for improvements in steering attachments for motor cars and the like, No. 12752, April 12, 1928, this being an inexpensive alternative to replacing worn parts.
Old was elected secretary of the Dingee-Tandara branch of the Victorian Farmers’ Union on February 8, 1924.
Old attempted to enlist for service in World War 2 but was rejected hence he took work as a blacksmith on the Lauriston, near Kyneton, reservoir project followed by work at the Ordnance Factory, Maribyrnong, Melbourne. During 1945 Ernie Old began a series of long-distance cycle rides which were to make him a national figure, he even climbing Ayers Rock (Uluru) at the age of 83, before cycling across Tasmania in 1959.
In 1947, Old entered for his 11th start in the Warrnambool to Melbourne cycling road race but was rejected .
Old appeared in Anzac Day parades, upright and soldierly in his AIF uniform, which excited admiration from public and press.
I can remember him riding in the Bendigo Easter parades, he being towards the front as was the “Black Moriah” which always frightened me as the ’constables’ jumped off it and grabbed men randomly before carting them off.
Ernie Old married Marion Patience Grylls on February 23, 1905 and to them were born three daughters and son Ernest George, 1912 - 2001.
Old, trim and tanned with a shock of silver-grey hair, was a teetotaller and non-smoker, attributed his old age to exercise and the love of the countryside. Ernie Old died on August 11, 1962.
Francis Edward Old joined his two older brothers on the land at Ultima in 1892 before selecting three blocks at Nineteen Mile in 1897.
Old married Marion Richardson on September 27, 1904 prior to selecting land at Wakool, New South Wales in 1907.
Whilst at Wakool Old was a shire councillor 1912-1913, an executive member of the Farmers’ and Settlers’ Association (New South Wales) from 1913-1918, a member of the local school and hospital committees.
Although Old returned to Victoria in 1919 he retained his Wakool property whilst now owning 2560 acres of land in the Swan Hill area, he irrigating property near Piangil and later on at Lake Baker, between Lake Boga and Swan Hill. Old was soon elected to the Victorian Farmers’ Union prior to becoming involved with state politics, he at some time being deputy leader of the Country Party.
Francis Edward Old died on May 19, 1950, being survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.