Heres an aerial photo of Ulverstone taken around the mid 1950s. One feature that people will immediately recognise is the cannery in front. At the time it was called International Canners. French fries would not be produced there until 1963. Note the huge stacks of timber in the centre of the photo. These were for firing the factory boiler. One winter in the 1940s there were complaints of a firewood shortage in the town, part blame was directed to the factory using most of the available trucking resources for its own wood fuel needs. The abandoned Nietta Railway which I believe closed in the early 1950s runs alongside. The rail bridge over Masons or Stinking Creek can still be seen and was not demolished until the 1970s. Is that the Bacon Factory middle right? The Livestock Sale Yards are top right. The State Central Primary School is top left surrounded by Macrocarpa trees. I well recall making forts out of the pine needles and climbing these trees during school recess. They were cut down around 1970 as I can still recall the teacher making us stand on the opposite side of the classroom for fear of the trees falling and hitting the building. Top left below the school is the Public Works Department yard which was a major employer in the town for many years. I lived next door and can still hear the lunch siren (think air raid type) going off on a daily basis. The wandering track on the left leads down to a small quarry at the mouth of Masons Creek and on the bank of the Leven River. Many tons of high quality pure white quartz silica were mined here in the 1940s and sent away for optical grade glassware manufacture. This open scrubland was used for many years by Tasma Hardwood Mill for air-drying its timber. The land is now completely built over by the Simplot Australia factory. The Bass Highway Ulverstone Bi-pass now runs up the right hand side of the photo cutting through Henslowes Road.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 10:12:37 +0000
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