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Below is a very, very brief summary of events in the history of Sunshine paralleled with the rest of Australia

and the world.

For a stroll down memory lane the books Harvester Town, When the Whistle Blew & Early Glimpses of

Sunshine will invoke memories of the past, be they the workplaces of your parents, churches or schools

attended or landmarks often passed in our busy lives, they are all a jigsaw piece in the history of Sunshine.

The early years

The First Fleet comprising 11 ships and carrying approximately 1350 men, women and children left

England on 13th May 1787 arriving January 1788 onwards. The Second and Third Fleets were to follow in all

some 170,000 convicts arrived in Australia. In the following years, free settlers arrived, convicts were given

their freedom and slowly towns and villages began, becoming the foundation of our society today.

1790	Birth William Charles Wentworth
1792	Birth Thomas Livingstone Mitchell and John Pascoe Fawkner. Death of Fletcher Christian
1793	Sydney's first church, of wattle and daub, built
1795	Charles Sturt born
1796	Australia's first theatre opened in Sydney, estimated population NSW 4,100
1797	Paul Edmond de Strzelecki born
1798	Estimated population NSW 5,217
1801	John Batman born
1803	First record of cricket played in Australia. Deer first introduced.
1804	John Gould born
1807	Estimated population NSW 7,948
1808	Caroline Chisholm born
1809	Australia's oldest existing church opened at Ebenezer, NSW
1810	First recorded horse race in Australia, held at Parramatta
1813	Foundation stone, Female Orphan School, Parramatta laid
1814	First recorded prize fight in Australia which lasted 56 rounds! Death of Matthew Flinders
1817	Estimated population NSW 17,848
1822	Honey bees successfully introduced
1824	Sugar first made from cane. Hume and Hovell passed through the grassy plains of Sunshine and Keilor
1825	Sydney Turf Club formed, Richmond Bridge, Tasmania opened
1828	The first regular census taken in NSW, population 36,598 of which 15,728 were convicts
1829	The first record of a football game played in Australia
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1830 - 1839

World events included :

Death of King George IV. Death of Sir Walter Scott. The invention of electric telegraph by Morse. Queen Victoria

succeeded to the throne, by which time in Australia permanent white pioneer families had settled in Victoria, some

of them are remembered today, with parks and streets bearing their names. Penny-postage introduced, the same

year Queen Victoria married Prince Albert.

1831	Sydney Herald began publication (as a weekly)
1832	Cascade Brewery founded Hobart
1837	Ben Hall born
1838	Melbourne Cricket Club founded
1839	John Batman died. John Gould produced the book Birds of Australia
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1840 - 1849

World events included :

During this decade Hong Kong was acquired by Britain. The British Museum opened. Gold was discovered in

California.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

These years also saw parcels of land purchases. There was also a severe depression, allowing land to be sold

at giveaway prices as the original landowners could not afford the upkeep.

1842	The Argus newspaper began in Melbourne
1842	Melbourne officially incorporated as a town
1844	Dr. C.R. Penfold establishes a vineyard in South Australia
1847	Ether was first used as a general anesthetic. Golf was first played in Melbourne.
1848	Ludwig Leichardt died
1849	Edmund Barton was born
1850	Lawrence Hargrave was born. Elizabeth Macarthur died. Victoria issued adhesive postage stamps. Constitution Dock, Hobart officially opened. The game of Australian Rules Football, 12 players to a side, played in Melbourne.
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1850 - 1859

World events included :

Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French. Livingston completed his journey across Africa. Darwin published

Origin of Species.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

Some early land purchases were made by Francis Anderson, W.J.T. Clarke, Abel Thorpe, James W. Thomson and

Thomas McMahon.

1850	The beginnings of Allans Music Shop. J.E. Seppelt established a vineyard in South Australia
1851	Gold was discovered
1852	Distilling eucalyptus oil first began near Dandenong
1853	State Library of Victoria established as a public library. Cobb & Co began in Melbourne. Gregory Blaxland died.
1854	The crinoline was introduced in Australia. The Eureka Stockade takes place in Ballarat. Public hangings abolished in Victoria
1854	Braybrook Hotel opened it's doors
1855	Como in South Yarra, Melbourne was completed. Frederick McCubbin & Ned Kelly were born. Mary Reibey and Sir Charles Hotham died
1856	Tom Roberts and Alfred Deakin were born
1857	A patent was obtained for the manufacture of corrugated-iron water tanks
1858	Melbourne Football Club was formed. Carlton Brewery founded. Terracotta roofing tiles manufactured in Melbourne to a patent awarded to Charles Curet.
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1860 - 1869

World events included :

The American Civil War began. Abraham Lincoln became President of USA. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Slavery was abolished in the USA. Antiseptic surgery was first used in Glasgow. The Salvation Army was founded.

The Irish Church was disestablished. The Suez Canal formally opened.

1860	The Braybrook Road Board District was created. The population of of Maidstone, Albion & Braybrook was 363 men, women & children.
1861	The Melbourne Cup was run for the first time. Helen Porter Mitchell (Nellie Melba) was born. William Wills and Robert O'Hara Burke died.
1862	The Zoological Gardens were established at Royal Park, Melbourne.
1864	The Victorian Racing Club was formed. A.B. Banjo Paterson was born and William Lonsdale died.
1865	William Arnott opened a bakery & confectionery in Newcastle. Hugh Victor McKay born.
1866	John Martin & Otto Peters opened a store in Adelaide (John Martin's).
1867	Lister's antiseptic treatment of open wounds first used by a doctor. Arthur Streeton and Henry Lawson were born.
1868	Maria Smith accidentally propagates the Granny Smith apple. Royal Arcade, Melbourne built. Work begins on the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne.
1869	The Weekly Times newspaper was established. George Gawler, John Pascoe Fawkner and Charles Sturt died.
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1870 - 1879

World events included :

Livingstone died. General Custer was defeated and died. Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India. Edison &

Swann produce the first incandescent light. The Zulu War began.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

The Braybrook Road Board District became a Shire in 1871 with 240 inhabited dwellings.

1870	Toohey's Brewery established in Sydney.
1872	William Charles Wentworth died.
1873	Sir Paul de Strzelecki and Hamilton Hume died.
1874	Marcus Clarke's For the Term of His Natural Life appears in book form.
1875	William Hovell and C.J. La Trobe died.
1876	Truganini died. C.J. Dennis, Walter Burley Griffin and James Scullin were born.
1877	Victorian Football Association formed. May Gibbs and Hans Heysen were born. Caroline Chisholm and John Fairfax died.
1878	Advance Australia Fair first played and sung in Sydney. First running of the Stawell Gift. Simcha Baevski (Sidney Myer) was born.
1879	Norman Lindsay and Miles Franklin were born. Running of the first Caulfield Cup.
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1880 - 1889

World events included :

Saw the immunisation experiment by Louis Pasteur. All Indians in USA in Reservations.

Daimler produced his first motor car. Gold was discovered in the Transvaal.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

H.V McKay invents his first stripper-harvester. The principal industries being sheep & dairy farming.

1880	The population of Braybrook Junction was 1034.
1880	Will Dyson, John Flynn (Flynn of the Inland) and Elizabeth Kenny were born. Ned Kelly hanged.
1881	John Gould and Marcus Clarke died.
1882	Wirth's Circus was formed. Electric light was installed in Theatre Royal, Sydney. Douglas Mawson and Percy Grainger were born.
1883	Thomas Bushell founded his tea business in Brisbane. Work began on the Windsor Hotel, Melbourne.
1884	H.V. McKay invents his first stripper-harvester.
1885	Prince Henry's Hospital Melbourne established. First Melbourne tram. John Curtin, G.J. Coles, Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar, Keith Murdoch and J.B. Chifley were born.
1886	The Princess Theatre opened in Melbourne. Banjo Paterson's first poem appeared in the Bulletin.
1887	Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology established.
1889	Lawrence Hargrave invents a rotary aeroplane engine. Banjo Paterson's Clancy of the Overflow appeared in the Bulletin. Population in the Australian colonies reached 3 million. Peter Lalor died.
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1890 - 1899

World events included :

The United States of Brazil. Marconi sent the first message over a wireless. Rontgen discovers X-Rays. Freud

publishes his first work. The Curies discovered Radium. The Boer War began.

Gold was discovered in the Klondike. Boer War began.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

Most homes were of wood, iron or lath and plaster, followed by brick or stone, the majority of which had 3-6 rooms.

Most inhabitants were Australian born closely followed by those born in the UK.

There were over 9,000 cattle and sheet in the Shire along with over 1600 horses and over 7,000 poultry including

turkeys, fowls and geese.

1890	The Shire of Braybrook had a population of 1441 with 645 ratepayers.
1890	Queen's Bridge, Melbourne opened. The blue-speckle cattle dog (blue heeler) established as a pure breed.
1891	The Shire of Braybrook had a population of 1556 people.
1891	Sarah Bernhardt and Rudyard Kipling visited Melbourne. Henry Lawson's poem Freedom's on the Wallaby appears in the Brisbane Worker. Henry Vande Sluice (Roy Rene) was born.
1892	Gladys Moncrieff, Bert Hinkler and John Simpson Kirkpatrick (Simpson & his donkey) were born. The first milking machines installed at Bodalla, NSW.
1893	Roy Cazaly was born.
1891	Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians was published. Robert Gordon Menzies was born.
1894	Phyllis Dorothy McGlew (Cilento) was born.
1895	Les Darcy was born. The word cobber first appeared in print.
1896	Queen Victoria Victoria Memorial Hospital for Women & Children. Tivoli Theatre Melbourne opened. Sir Henry Parkes died. Arthur Calwell was born.
1897	Charles Kingsford Smith was born.
1898	Walter Lindrum was born. Rosella Preserving & Manufacturing Co. makes it's first tomato sauce. The book by Steel Rudd On Our Selection is published. Nevil Shute Norway, Ian Clunies Ross and William Dobell are born.
1899	Rosella made it's first Tomato Sauce.
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1900 - 1909

World events included :

Queen Victoria died. The Boer War ended. The first controlled flight by Orville & Wilbur Wright. San Francisco

destroyed by earthquake. The Women's Suffrage Movement became active in Britain. Vitamins were discovered by

F.G. Hopkins. New Zealand became a dominion. Old Age Pensions were introduced in Britain.

1900	The Australian Commonwealth was proclaimed.
1901	Miles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career. Ping Pong becomes the game of the moment.
1902	Birth of Albert Namatjira.
1904	George Adams died.
1904	Hugh Victor McKay moved his Harvester Works factory from Ballarat, when he purchased the Braybrook Implement Company.
1905	Work on Flinders Street Station.
1906	Natural gas used to light the streets of Roma, Queensland (supply runs out after 10 days). World's first life saving club founded in Sydney (Bondi). Driving Licence first introduced. William Farrer died.
1907	Basic Wage established. Frederick Peters established Peters' American Delicacy Co. Ltd. to make ice-cream. Marjorie Lawrence was born.
1907	Braybrook Junction was renamed after his "Sunshine Harvester Works".
1908	Mrs Aeneas Gunn wrote We of the Never Never. Chloe painting goes on display at Young & Jackson's hotel, Melbourne. William McMahon, Henry Bolte, Harold Holt and Donald Bradman were born.
1908	Australia's worst rail disaster. 44 passengers were killed and 431 injured.
1909	Bush Nursing Service established. Swinburne Institute of Technology, Melbourne established. R.M. (Reg) Ansett, John Goffage (Chips Rafferty) and Robert Helpman were born
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1910 - 1919

WORLD EVENTS INCLUDED :

Edward VII died, which then saw the accession of George V. Tolstoy and Florence Nightingale died. Scotts last

expedition. WWI began. Sinn Fein began rising in Ireland in 1916. The first Daylight Saving Bill was passed in Britain.

The first direct flight across the Atlantic. WWI ended.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

Sunshine thrived with many new businesses opening. Most people who have lived in Sunshine a while will know

someone who worked at the Sunshine Harvester Works, Nettlefolds, Sunshine Cabinet Works, Wunderlich Ltd,

Spaldings, Crittalls, Sunshine Timber Company or John Darling Flour Mill to name a few.

1910	Henry Handel Richardson wrote The Getting of Wisdom. Jack Davey was born.
1911	Sidney Myer opened a drapery business in Melbourne. Johannes (Joh) Bjelki-Petersen and John Gorton were born.
1912	Fibrous plaster sheets first imported to Australia. Work began on Taronga Park Zoo. Australia's first luxury cinema, the Majestic opened in Melbourne. Cost of living index was first compiled. The Commonwealth Maternity Allowance £5 per child introduced. Russell Drysdale was born.
1913	J.C. Williamson died.
1914	John Kerr & J.F. (Jim) Cairns were born. First official airmail service.
1915	Aspro trademark registered. Manning Clark and B.A. (Bob) Santamaria were born. Death of Lawrence Hargrave and E. Phillips Fox.
1916	Arthur Roden Cutler, Gough Whitlam and Peter Finch were born.
1917	Daylight saving introduced to Australia (unpopular and not reintroduced until WWII). Holden Motor Body Builders established a factory in Adelaide. Frank Hardy and Sydney Nolan were born. Les Darcy and Frederick McCubbin died.
1918	May Gibbs wrote Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. Norman Lindsay wrote The Magic Pudding.
1919	The Returned Services League Sunshine Branch was formed. During the worldwide influenza epidemic,the Sunshine Technical School was turned into a temporary hospital.
1919	Influenza epidemic causes nearly 12,000 deaths. Alfred Deakin died. Nancy Fotheringham Cato born. The Potts cartoon strip began.
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1920 - 1929

world events included:

Prohibition began in the USA. Degrees were opened for women at Oxford University. The Irish Free State was

formed. Lenin died. Lindbergh fly the Atlantic alone. Kingsford-Smith flew the Pacific. A German airship with 60 people

on board crossed the Atlantic. Wall Street crashed.

1920	Mrs George McKay provided the equipment to start the Sunshine Scout Troop.
1920	David Fletcher Jones established his tailoring company in Warrnambool. A.C. Howard first patents a rotary hoe. Sir Edmund Barton died. Arthur Boyd was born.
1921	Work on Yallourn Power Station began. John Lysaght began producing galvanised sheet steel. Australia's first Rotary club founded. The Archibald Prize is first awarded. Ginger Meggs comic strip began.
1922	Who's Who in Australia was first published. The Sun News-Pictorial newspaper established. First Legacy club founded. Along the Road to Gundagai song published. Neville Bonner was born. Henry Lawson died.
1923	Work began on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The first electric lifts in Australia were installed in the railway building at Spencer Street. Vegemite and the Violet Crumble Bar were created.
1924	The Sunshine Advocate newspaper was the first registered local newspaper in the district. The formation of the Sunshine Golf Club.
1924	Harold Blair and Clifton Pugh were born.
1925	The population of Australia reached 6 million. Beginnings of Aeroplane Jelly. Don Chipp was born.
1926	The biggest fire in the district, at John Darling Flour Mill.
1926	First Miss Australia competition. Jack Brabham, Don Dunstan, Neville Wran, Joan Sutherland and William (Billy) Snedden were born.
1927	Canberra was declared the new capital of Australia. David Kirkpatrick (Slim Dusty) was born.
1928	The first traffic lights in Australia were installed at the corner of Collins & Swanson Streets, Melbourne. Speedo swimsuits first produced. Cadbury chocolate first produced at Claremont, Tasmania. The Flying Doctor Service began. Pro Hart was born. R.J.L. Hawke (Bob) and J.D. (Doug) Anthony were born.
1929	The Commonwealth basic wage was £4 10s 6d.
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1930 - 1939

WORLD EVENTS INCLUDED:

The Great Floods in China. Accession of Edward VIII and he abdicates the same year, his brother succeeding him

as King George VI. The beginning of WWII.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

A shop assistant during this time earned approximately 11s 3d per week, basic wage for men was £3 s12 d6 per

week while doing piecework could earn in excess of £4 per week.

Eight teenagers were found sleeping in train carriages, they were arrested and spent 5 days in Pentridge before

appearing before the court. They had been tramping the countryside looking for work. These were the Depression

Years.

1930	H.V. McKay Sunshine Harvester Works merged with Canadian firm Massey Harris.
1930	Rolf Harris, Malcolm Fraser and Richie Benaud were born. Sales tax was introduced. The Depression Years...
1931	F.W Thring's Diggers was shown (Australia's first commercially successful talking film). Rupert Murdoch and John Cain were born. Dame Nellie Melba, Tom Roberts and Sir John Monash died.
1932	The Dog on the Tuckerbox Pioneer Memorial was unveiled. Australian Broadcasting Commission began. Ion L. Idriess wrote Flynn of the Inland. The Sydney Harbour Bridge opened. Phar Lap died in California.
1933	W.G. (Bill) Snedden was born. D. Wall wrote Blinky Bill. Ben Bowyang comic strip began.
1934	Graham Kennedy, Barry Humphries and Ken Rosewall were born. Sidney Myer died.
1935	Herbert Sachse of the Esplanade Hotel in Perth created the Pavlova. R.G. Whitehead develops Tarzan's Grip glue. Johnny O'Keefe and Thomas Keneally were born. Arthur Hoey Davis (Steele Rudd) and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith died.
1936	Ansett Airways began. Ron Barassi & Charles Perkins were born.
1937	The Commonwealth basic wage was £3 15s. Dad & Dave radio serial began. Walter Burley Griffin died. Colleen McCullough, Robert Holmes á Court, Dawn Fraser and Kerry Packer were born.
1938	Will Dyson and C.J. Dennis died. Herb Elliott, Betty Cuthbert, Alan Bond, Rod Laver and Frank Moorhouse were born.
1939	When war broke out the full resources of McKay Massey Harris works were placed at the disposal of the Commonwealth.
1939	Outbreak of WWII. Lux Radio Theatre began. Sliced bread introduced by Sunshine Bakeries, Newtown, Sydney. Population reaches 7 million. Birth of Germaine Greer, Andrew Peacock, Brett Whiteley, Phillip Adams, John Howard and Fred Schepisi. Death of J.A. Lyons.
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1940 - 1949

WORLD EVENTS INCLUDED:

First self-sustained, controlled nuclear chain reaction in uranium took place on a Chicago tennis court. WWII ended. President Roosevelt died. In Britain the school leaving age was raised to 15. Princess Elizabeth married. Mahatma

Ghandi was assassinated.

LOCAL EVENTS INCLUDED:

1941-1942 One hundred Housing Commission homes for munition workers were built in the Duke Street area.

1940	Alex Gurney's Bluey & Curley comic strip begins publication. Marilyn Jones was born.
1941	Norman Gregg links defects in new-born babies with rubella infection in their mothers during pregnancy. A.B. (Banjo) Paterson died.
1942	The Village Glee Club (radio program) began. Ita Buttrose and David Williamson born.
1943	Commonwealth Serum Laboratories began producing penicillin in commercial quantities for civilian use. Death of Sir Arthur Streeton and William Lister Lister. Birth of Roger Woodward and Ian Chappell.
1944	Paul Keating, R.H. (Dick) Smith and John Newcombe were born.
1945	WWII ended. After the war, rationing of food and clothing continued in Australia until 1949. The Sydney-Hobart yacht race was held for the first time. Johnny Famechon was born. John Curtin Died.
1946	Hills Hoist began in Adelaide. The film The Overlanders with Chips Rafferty was shown. Miles Franklin wrote My Career Goes Bung. Death of Henry Handel Richardson (Mrs Ethel Robertson).
1947	First visit to Australia by the Indian Cricket team.
1948	Employees under federal awards begin working a 40-hour week. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme established. The cost of a Holden Sedan was £760. National anti-tuberculosis campaign began. Birth of Robyn Archer, Lionel Rose, Olivia Newton-John and Greg Chappel. Death of Sir Isaac Isaacs.
1949	Poliomyelitis epidemic in most states. Dennis Lillee was born.
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1950 - 1959

WORLD EVENTS INCLUDED:

Korean War began. George Bernard Shaw died. King George VI died. Eisenhower became President of the USA.

Queen Mary died. Princess Elizabeth became Queen. The USA exploded the hydrogen bomb. All food rationing

ended in Britain. Albert Einstein died. The Queen's Christmas message was televised for the first time. Sir Edmund

Hilary reached the South Pole. John F. Kennedy elected President of USA.

1951	Sunshine proclaimed a City. The Sunshine RSL clubrooms opened.
1950	Myxomatosis successfully released in the Murray Valley. Frank Hardy wrote Power without Glory and Nevil Shute wrote A Town Like Alice.
1951	F.G. McEncroe of Bendigo creates the Chiko Roll. Tenor Harold Blair makes an Australian Tour for the ABC. Dymphna Cusack and Florence James wrote Come in Spinner. More than 1,500 cases and 121 deaths from poliomyelitis reported in NSW. Paid sick leave and long-service leave introduced in NSW. Waverley Council in Sydney bans the bikini swimsuit on its beaches. John Flynn (Flynn of the Inland), Sir Thomas Blamey and J.B. Chifley died. Evonne Goolagong (Cawley) and Jan Stephenson born.
1952	Mervyn Victor Richardson invents the Victa rotary lawnmower. Commonwealth basic wage £11 11s.
1953	Fluoridation of water supply first introduced. CSIRO discovers an anti-shrink process for wool. Death J.H. Scullin and John Wren.
1954	Queen Elizabeth (the first reigning monarch) visited Australia. John Landy broke two world records. Miles Franklin and Roy Rene (Mo) died.
1955	Massey Ferguson bought McKay Massey Harris. Business in the area were Rubbertex (Aust) P/L, Alliance Printing Works, Peerless Plaster Co and Kreglinger & Fernau P/L to name a few.
1955	Alan Marshall wrote I Can Jump Puddles and D'Arcy Niland wrote The Shiralee. Death penalty abolished NSW.
1956	The Olympics held in Melbourne. Poker machines legalised in NSW. Television introduced to Australia. Woman's Day magazine began. Sir Frank Beaurepaire died. Shane Gould was born.
1957	The Argus ceases publication. Slim Dusty's A Pub With No Beer awarded Australia's first gold record. Bob Dyer's quiz show Pick a Box begins on television. Nino Culotta (John O'Grady) wrote They're a Weird Mob and Nevil Shute wrote On the Beach. Robert de Castella was born.
1958	Bandstand hosted by Brian Henderson began on television. Three weeks annual leave granted to all employees under NSW awards. Legislation enacted in NSW to provide for equal pay for "work of the same or like nature and of equal value" performed by men and women (female wage to be increased progressively). Sir Douglas Mawson died.
1959	Work begins on the Sydney Opera House. Jack Brabham wins the world motor-racing championship. Population reaches 10 million. Death of Sir Ian Clunies Ross, Albert Namatjira, Jack Davey and Errol Flynn.
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