General News
11 August, 2024
Times Gone By
- from Rainbow Archives and Historical Society's Peter Ralph
The recent item on buildings which have been transported to Rainbow from elsewhere has stimulated some interest.
There have been a surprising number over the years.
Some were residences which were professionally fabricated then moved by trucks to Rainbow.
I understand that from late 1949 one such firm operating was Stawell Timber Industries and the Horsham Times of August 2 that year announced “Will Make Five Houses a Week”.
At least two STI homes which Rainbow gained were the Albert Street Secondary School principal’s house and the former Lands Department home in Taverner Street.
I believe there are other towns in the region with STI houses transported from Stawell around the same time, and in fact our family lived in one on Lake Street, Edenhope for several years.
Presumably STI gained some Government contracts over a period.
In more recent times, several other houses have been at least part-built elsewhere by different companies, then fully fitted out on site.
Of equal interest are those homes transported into town from farm locations, the work generally being done by local friends and relatives using equipment at hand.
In Cust Street, the Weir family brought in the house (where Nancy Heinrich now lives) from the Yaapeet farm to its site now at the north-west Bow Street corner, the Thomas house was brought in from Ray Watt’s (Werrap) in two parts, and the house now occupied by Mark and Bec Bastin was originally trekked in from the Drendel property around 1954 using a jinker and three tractors.
Frank tells me that the Thomas house was successfully shifted with its verandah intact, evidently unusual when a relocation took place.
Whilst we know how these homes look today, we can’t always compare them “now” with how they appeared in their original location, mainly due to the fact that such “then” photographs are not all that common.
However, thanks to Joy McLean, we have this photo of one of Rainbow’s homes in its original position on the Sleep farm south of the town.
Check out the bull-nose verandah, the intricate lacework adorning the verandah, and the regularly- placed “Yurunga-style" wooden mouldings under the roof spouting.
And although the photo is in black and white, the crispness of the paintwork on the trim is quite evident.
Altogether, a very smart timber home.
So where is it now, and how much has it been altered?
This gracious home found its second life at a spot very handy to the main street and to both schools, and was in fact for a long time, the residence of the Primary School headmaster.
Today, though some modifications have taken place, it is the home of P-12 College principal Colleen Petschel on the south-west corner of King and Bow Street.
Thus indeed it continues to be entitled to be regarded as “a house of learning.”