by Bernie Miller The Growth of Tourism and the Role of Guest Houses in the District Tourism blossomed close to Toolangi from the early 1880s. At Christmas, in peak tourist season 1885, Cobb and Co. recorded carrying 1064 passengers over 8 days to Healesville, Fernshaw...
by Margaret O’Connell Strengthening our community through opportunity, diversity and connection - Vision Statement 2019–2022 In 1995, under the auspices of the Kinglake District Neighbourhood House (KDNH), a local playgroup was started in Toolangi at ‘Toocom...
by Joanne Priestley Church services were held in the public hall/State School from as early as 1896 with the Pastor, Reverend E.S. Chase, incumbent of St Johns Healesville, hoping for more success in 1897 than the previous summer.[i] Services were held monthly during...
by David Pockett Well over 100 years ago, the local Toolangi and Castella community was pressuring hard for a railway, primarily to service the timber industry. Local agitation began in 1890, following which the Yea River (Railway/Tramway) League was formed, with Mr...
by Joanne Priestley Post offices were an integral part of early communities. Mail would be conveyed to the post office in a loose bag and then sorted by the postmaster or postmistress and held until collection. Like today, post offices offered Commonwealth banking...
by Joanne Priestley In 1914, 2835 babies died before their first birthday in Victoria.[i] A committee of medical practitioners recommended that baby clinics be established in Victoria in 1916. But it was Dr Isabella Younger (later Ross) who, with three friends,...
by Joanne Priestley The first building used as a hall in Toolangi was built in 1895 on the Toolangi Primary School site and measured 22 feet long and 14 feet wide. It was built by the local Toolangi residents and leased back to the Education Department as a school for...
by Steve Whitemore and Lynn Dean The year was 1979. Twelve starry-eyed urban socialists – Grant Borchers, Vicki Nobes, Steve and Anne Whitmore, Simon Harvey, Brian Tyler, Malenka Polkowski, Sally Mendes, Ian Locke, Jan Bennett, Lyn Dorrington and Colin O’Brien – met...
by Joanne Priestley Introduction Toolangi is home to lush mountain forests of gigantic Mountain Ash and some incredible ‘European’ tree specimens. The Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica f. purpurea) at ‘Arden’ was planted by C.J. Dennis and Poet Laureate John Masefield in...