A110 year old dog tag, uncovered at the site of the former Mount Graham school, was shown at a recent meeting of the South East Family History Group (SEFHG) in Millicent.
SEFHG member Kathy Gandolfi told of a search undertaken with fellow member John Nicholson, who used his metal detecting equipment and experience at the site of the school which is in a paddock about 2km north of the Mount Graham homestead near Mount Burr.
Mrs Gandolfi, nee Williams, grew up on the property and gained permission to search the site from current owners Mitch and Duan Williams.
She said in her living memory the site had only been marked by a couple of old trees and a handful of stones.
“We found an oddment of things including air vents from the building,” she said holding up one of the metal vents she said her husband Peter had researched to find the design was from the Victorian era.
“But probably the most interesting thing was a dog tag which John was able to date to 1913/1914 and was issued by the Kennion Council which was the Council at the time in the area.”
Mrs Gandolfi said the school had been opened in 1916 and closed mid way through 1938 with her father, the late Alan Williams, being among the last students to attend the school.
Prior to its use as a school, the building had been a house, and The South Eastern Times in 1916 recorded the school had last been the residence of Mr J McColl.
“So the tag was probably from Mr McColl’s dog,” Mrs Gandolfi said.
She also took Mr Nicholson to the site of the original Mount Graham homestead which was built in the 1850’s after Archibald Johnson moved his headquarters for the Mount Muirhead Station, later known as Mount Graham station, from Gran Gran near Mount Burr to the northern slopes of Mount Graham.
“This site proved to be far more challenging,” Mrs Gandolfi said.
She could remember the ruins of that building as a child but the few walls that were left became so weakened by the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983 they were pushed over in the interests of safety, and that tonnes of fencing wire were buried there when the farm’s destroyed fences were replaced after the fires.
“The wire caused a problem, but John did find a small ornate piece of copper or brass which he thinks might have been silver plated once, but that has long gone,” Mrs Gandolfi said.
“I like to think it might have been Mrs Johnson’s hair piece or brooch as she had a reputation of being an extravagantly stylish lady with stories of her attending the Penola races in a gown covered in gold coins.”
After the current Mount Graham homestead was built by Archibald Johnson in 1864, the original building was used as a woolshed until the 1950s.
The Williams family have owned the current 160-year Mount Graham homestead for the last 120 years.
