Category: Victoria Hotel-Tolarno

Herbert Curran is my paternal Grandfather (my dad Kevin Curran’s father). He was born on 10 July, 1896 at Netley Station, Menindee. 

First Nations’ History of Menindee

Menindee is part of the ancestral lands of the Barkindji people, who lived here for over 65 000 years before the arrival of Europeans. 

‘Menindee’ is said to derive from two Barkindji words, ‘minandichi’ (referring to the ephemeral lake in the north west of the town) and ‘milhthaka’ (yoke of an egg). The lakes in Menindee were called, ‘wontanella’ meaning ‘many waters’. Source: Wikipedia

Menindee was originally named, Perry (in 1861), a name that was unpopular with white locals and changed to Menindee in 1863. Source: Wikipedia

Frontier War conflicts occurred in this area – including during the expeditions of Major Thomas Mitchell in 1835. The Barkindji were also removed from their land and taken to the Menindee Aboriginal Mission. Source: James Tylor

Menindee was a base camp for the ill-fated Burke and Wills’ cross continent expedition from October 1860 to January 1861.

Herb’s Timeline

Herb married Kelleen Lillian Cullinan on 4 June 1919. He was 22 years old. Herb died on 1 November, 1972.

In the early 1920s there were only  “a dozen or so houses” in Menindee, no roads and a surface leading to the punt on the river Darling. Source: Wikipedia

Here’s where Herbert’s dad, Patrick worked:

Netley Station (later named Bindara Station), Menindee, New South Wales

1900 Victoria Hotel, Tolarno.

• Herb’s parents were licensees of the Victoria Hotel.

• 1904-1905 – Netley Station
  • Herbert’s father, Patrick works as a gardener at Netley Station.
• 1910 (7 December) – Mullingar Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales
  • Herb’s father, Patrick leases the homestead. He calls it Mullingar.
  • Herb assists in building their house and works on the property with his dad.
• 1918 – Fruit block, Curlwaa, New South Wales
  • Herb picks fruit with friends Ernie Page and Maurice Bath.
  • Herb buys a block of land, Lot 5, Sect 2 in Curlwaa, on the corner of Channel and Poplar road (see map below). He plants dried fruit and citrus.
  • Herb signs up to local footy club and attends Pooncarie races and ball where he meets his future wife.  

• 1919 – Herb marries Kelleen Lillian Mary Cullinan in a dual wedding with his friend Ernie Page who married his sister, Annie at Mullingar homestead.
• 1920 – Herb lives with his wife (Kelleen Cullinan) at Mullingar Station, Pooncarie, New South Wales
• Mallara Station
  • Herb goes wool pressing, which involves pressing wool into bales using one’s legs and feet.
• 1921 – Telegraph Hotel, Pooncarie, New South Wales (on the corner of McKinley and Mallara streets, see photos below)
  • Herb becomes licensee of the hotel below, that no longer exists.

• 1922 – Benetook Avenue, Mildura, Victoria, Australia
  • Herb, Kelleen and their family move to this fruit block.

Benetook Property location (2012, Greg Curran)

• 1925 – Herb, Kelleen and their family move to Cowra Avenue, Mildura
  • Temporary accommodation for the family.
  • This was a mud brick or adobe house that collapsed in the Murray River floods in 1956.
  • Herb begins a new job carting meat from the slaughterhouse at Gol Gol to a shop in Mildura (for Jack Crozier, Butcher) and other shops in Irymple, Red Cliffs, Merbein, Coomealla and Wentworth.
• 1926 – 66 Eighth Street, Mildura (see map below)
  • Herb buys a house and vacant block. He grows Gladioli and silver skin onions that he sells to the Chinese greengrocers.
  • 
• 1939 – 1972 Thirteenth Street, Mildura
  • Herb buys the property, the grape vines and the citrus plants. 
  • He eventually sells his carting contract and works on the block for the rest of his life.

Working On the Land

All information sourced from Doug Curran’s (1997) The Family History of Michael Curran 1836-1997.