Mary Poppins
The author of the Mary Poppins series of books, Pamela Lyndon Travers, lived in the A. J. S. Bank residence at what is now No.61 Herbert Street for a short time from 1905 to 1907.  She was born Helen Lyndon Goff in Maryborough, Queensland, in 1899. Her father Travers Robert Goff was the manager of the A. J. S. Bank in Maryborough and was transferred to Allora in 1905. Helen attended the Allora State School for a short time while awaiting the engagement of a governess. Many of P. L. Travers characters in her books were drawn from real life characters. The sugary sweet governess character as portrayed by Julie Andrews in the 1964 Walt Disney film “Mary Poppins,” was apparently far removed from the real life character. The life of the Goff family was thrown into upheaval in February 1907 when Travers Goff died of influenza at the age of 43. He was buried in a rather plainly marked grave in the Allora cemetery on the 8th February 1907. Mrs. Goff and her three daughters left Allora to live in Sydney. Helen went to England in 1924 and died there at the age of 97 in 1996.

Allora’s Past 25 years ago August 1984
Dedication
Memorial Stained Glass Windows
St. David’s Anglican Church Allora
Saturday, August 4, 1984, at 11 a.m.
Bishop Adrian Charles officiating.
All interested people welcome. Light luncheon provided.

Allora’s Past 50 years ago August 1959
Allora Shire Council
Visit of Princess Alexandrina
Residents are reminded that Her Royal Highness
 Princess Alexandrina will be passing through Allora at 3 p.m.
 Monday, 24th August, 1959.
The Royal car will travel at a slow walking pace.
School children from Allora and Clifton Shires will be present
and all residents are cordially invited to view the Royal progress.
             Lex Ellwood, Shire Clerk.

Allora’s Past 75 years ago August 1934
Bowlers make Progress
On Saturday voluntary labour laid the foundation blocks for the new club house. As soon as the necessary timber arrives, the building will commence. Plans, prepared by Mr. H. W. Stay under whose supervision the work is being done, provide for a building 36 ft. x 23 ft. containing a kitchen, dressing room and tool room beside an assembly room 23 ft. x 20 ft. The club house will also have a gabled porch and when completed will prove a boon to enthusiasts who for years past have been awaiting the time when their work would be finished.

Herbert Street Businesses
59 Herbert Street
140 years ago –  Francis Kates’ general store.
100 years ago – Commercial Hotel, F. R. Kilmister.
75 years ago – Commercial Hotel, John Dodd.
50 years ago – Commercial Hotel, Ron Reeves.
25 years ago – Commercial Hotel, Ken Turner.
Currently Commercial Hotel, Annemarie Smith
For more details see Herbert South 2 on web site.

Francis Kates
Francis Kates would have been the man singularly most influential in the development of Allora and district but he has been given little recognition for his efforts. Apart from the now defunct Kates Siding on the railway line from Hendon to Allora and the naming by Peter Doherty of the oval at the Allora State School, “Kates Oval”, he has been largely forgotten in the district. Even the town of Clifton has a Kates Street, probably names for Francis Kates when he was M. L. A. for the Darling Downs. It was also the street that Kates’ Allora flour mill was shifted to in 1901.
Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1830, Francis Benjamin Kates came to Australia in 1857. He opened Allora’s first general store in 1863 and over the next forty years did much to advance Allora both politically and commercially. He was the first mayor of the Allora Municipal Council in 1869. He was re-elected mayor from 1875 to 1877 and again in 1879. He was elected M. L. A. for the Darling Downs from 1878 to 1881. He was the champion of the small selector and during this term in parliament was responsible for the Allora Exchange Lands whereby 22,000 acres of Goomburra Station were exchanged for 40,000 acres at Jondaryan. He was elected again from 1883 to 1888. He represented the State seat of Cunningham from 1899 until his death.
Kates’ money was behind the building of three of the district’s hotels, the Crown Inn, the Railway Hotel at Hendon, and the Commercial Hotel. He built a flour mill in Drayton Street in 1871 and another in Forde Street in 1897. This mill was shifted to Clifton and Kates had a saw mill built in its place.
Francis Kates died on the 26th September 1903 and is buried at “Strath Ellbess”, Dalveen.

Commercial Hotel
The Commercial Hotel in Allora was built for Francis Kates on the former site of his general store, Allora’s first store opened in 1863. The builders of the hotel were Toowoomba contractors, Grigg & Meninnhett. Plans for the hotel were drawn up and the construction supervised by local builder, W. G. Gillam, the builder of St. David’s Church of England. The hotel was opened on the 1st April, 1892, and the first licensee was John Kelly who for the previous five years had been licensee of the Royal Hotel. The licence was held by a series of publicans until 1923 when it was taken over by John Dodd. At the same time Dodd purchased the freehold from the Misses. Mona and Florence Kates, granddaughters of Francis Kates.
The centenary of the Commercial Hotel was commemorated on the weekend of 28th and 29th March, 1992, when Merv. and Julie Parmenter  organized  a very successful celebration.

Herbert Street Businesses
57 Herbert Street
140 years ago – Queen’s Arms Hotel, Michael Erhardt.
100 years ago – Royal Hotel, James Flynn.
75 years ago – Royal Hotel, Mary McKendry.
50 years ago – Royal Hotel, George Johnston.
25 years ago – Royal Hotel, Patricia Guilford.
Currently Blue Cow Hotel, Denise Dalgleish.
For more details see Herbert South 3 on web site.

Blue Cow Hotel
When I said that the Allora Butchery was the oldest established business in Allora I was not counting on the Blue Cow Hotel. A licence for the hotel, then called the Queen’s Arms, at what is now No.57 Herbert Street, was issued to Michael Erhardt on the 22nd August 1866. Like the Allora Butchery, the hotel has had a couple of name changes and has been rebuilt after being burned to the ground. The Queen’s Arms was purchased by Charles Henry Wills on the 30th June 1879 and that was probably when the name was changed to the Royal Hotel. John Holmes bought the freehold on the 31st March 1884 and in the 1890’s he extended the ground floor and added a second story. John Holmes held the freehold until his death in 1901. The hotel passed through a number of hands and was owned by Mrs. Mary McKendry when it burned down early on the Sunday morning of 10th May 1931. The licensee at the time was Mr. C. L. A. Wright. By March 1932 the “New Royal Hotel” was being advertised by owner and licensee Mrs. McKendry.
Denise Dalgleish took over the Royal Hotel in February 1986 and probably holds the record for the length of time a hotel licence has been held in Allora. In the late 1990’s, after a visit to the Snowy Mountains, Denise hiked past Mount Blue Cow and was so enthralled by the euphoric scenery, she changed the name of her Allora hotel.

Royal Hotel Ghost
“A revolver shot and a woman’s screams proceeding from an upper room of the Royal Hotel shortly after 1 p.m. on Tuesday last gave all too unmistakeable evidence of something untoward happening”. So began the report in the Allora Guardian of the death on the 15th June 1920 of Mr. Dean Swift, aged 38, licensee of the Royal Hotel. Mr. Swift was a married man with three children and was found on the floor of an upstairs bedroom of the hotel with a gun shot wound to the roof of the mouth.
If there was ever a ghost at the Royal it was exorcised in the fire of May 1931 and when the new hotel was built.

Allora’s Past 25 years ago August 1984
A Pre Wedding Evening
will be held in the R. S. L. Hall, Allora,
on Friday night, September 28th
in honour of Miss Zita Taylor’s approaching marriage
to Mr. David Dwan.
Ladies please provide.

Allora’s Past 50 years ago August 1959
Benefit Dance to aid Fire Victims
A benefit dance to assist Mr. and Mrs. Alan Burmester and family who recently lost all their possessions in a fire will be held in the Victoria Hill Hall on Wednesday night, 2nd September. Orchestral music. Ladies are requested to provide refreshments.
Subscription lists to aid the Burmester family are now open at business houses in Allora.

Herbert Street Businesses
55 Herbert Street
1902 – Royal Hotel Buildings destroyed by fire.
1931 – Royal Hotel Buildings destroyed by fire.
1960’s and early 1970’s – Allora Motors used car lot.
Currently part of Blue Cow Hotel and vacant land.
For more details see Herbert South 4 on web site.

Charlie Bishop
A recent family history request concerning the Weber family prompted me to tell a story about Charlie Bishop before it is forgotten. Charlie was an eccentric character who lived in a ramshackle shack in Forde Street where “The Homestead” stands today. That cottage was originally owned by Frederick and Christina Weber who were very early German settlers in Allora. Frederick was killed in an accident in 1877 and Christina lived in the cottage until her death in 1896. Charlie Bishop and his lady friend Sis Sergeant, lived there in later years. Whatever amenities it had, hot running water was apparently not one of them. Charlie was subject to much teasing by the local lads, but what they probably didn’t know was that he was a returned serviceman who had suffered severe head injuries in France in WW I. When the lads gave him too much cheek Charlie would open the front of the old army greatcoat that he always wore to reveal a tin sheriff’s badge. At least he had something else on underneath. Apparently another local digger, who shall remain nameless, used to open his greatcoat to reveal a lot more than a sheriff’s badge.
An amusing story is told of Charlie when he worked on the night cart. Early one morning when the loaded truck was returning to the sanitary depot it rolled over. Charlie was seen searching amongst the wrecked truck and its load. When asked what he was looking for he replied that he was searching for his coat. When asked why he wanted his coat he said that the paper bag with his lunch was in it.

Allora’s Past 25 years ago September 1984
Thanks
Ross and Juanita Geitz would like to thank everyone
who expressed good wishes to them
on the birth of their daughter,
Carla Maree.
Allora’s Past 50 years ago September 1959
A Pre Wedding Evening
A Pre Wedding Evening will be tendered
Miss Lola Siebenhausen in the Goomburra Hall
on Saturday, 5th September,
in honour of her approaching marriage
to Mr. Doug. Crookey.
Yale Blue’s Orchestra. Jill Reedy, Hon. Sec.

Allora’s Past 100 years ago September 1909
One and Ninepence in Nine Years
The Captain of the Allora Rifle Club wishes to congratulate the members on the care that they have taken of the rifles since the formation of the Club in October, 1900. Twenty M E rifles have been returned to the store and the account for deficiencies apart from normal wear and tear amounts to 1/9. This is probably a record.

Herbert Street Businesses
53 Herbert Street
140 years ago – School residence yard.
100 years ago – School residence yard.
75 years ago – Allora Guardian Newspaper.
50 Years ago – Allora Advertiser, John Gordon.
25 years ago – Allora Advertiser, John Gordon.
Currently Allora Advertiser, David Gleeson
For more details see Herbert South 4 on web site.

Allora Advertiser
When the Allora Guardian Newspaper ceased publication at the end of 1934, a group of local businessmen including Frank Donovan and Hubert Deacon, saw the need for some form of local advertising medium. They backed former Guardian employee Mick O’Connor to set up the Allora Advertiser, which he did in a shed behind his house at No.34 Raff Street. That shed today, is Bill and Sue Murdoch’s garage. Young next door neighbour, Keith Masters, would frequently wander over when the house and shed were being built. Carpenter, Peter Reid, threatened Keith that he would bury him in one of the stump holes if he didn’t disappear. Keith didn’t show up for the next two weeks. Mrs. Elizabeth O’Connor, formerly Clarke nee Gillam, was Keith and Rae Masters’ great-grandmother. The business passed through the hands of Con Carling to A. C. Hammond. A young John Gordon started his printing apprenticeship with A. C. Hammond. December 1951 saw the purchase of the former A. L. Cock’s Shoe Store and the Advertiser business was moved to No.53 Herbert Street. John Gordon bought the business from A. C. Hammond in September 1954 and it was John’s proud claim that for the next forty five years he never missed a production deadline. In December 1999 the Allora Advertiser was sold to Sam and Helen Achilles. David Gleeson took over as editor of the Advertiser in July 2007.

Allora’s Past 25 years ago September 1984
SPECIAL NOTICE
Mrs. D. Byrne wishes to advise that she will be sewing
at her residence in Arnold Street, Allora.
Work on button holes and belts may be left
 at the Joan Salon.

Allora’s Past 75 years ago September 1934
Viscous Housekeepers
After one or two breathtaking experiences, persons whose custom was to use the small private laneway at the rear of the Princess of Wales Hotel, now make a wide detour on their way to and from the business section. Recently two magpies set up housekeeping on a high branch near the laneway and with the laying of the first eggs, commenced aerial warfare against dogs, cats, boys and men. A peculiar feature of the attacks is that invariably women and girls are unmolested, no matter how close to the nest they may wander.

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