The Mills Cottage
The Mills Cottage is an original (hand cut) shingle roofed vertical drop slab cottage. It was found inside a house being demolished at 70 Gavan Street, Broadford (section 36, allot 17); behind the present day Salvation Army Citadel and Hall.
Over the years the cottage had been added to and built over, in response to the needs of growing families.
The earliest mention of a residence on the site is in 1884 in the rate records, where James Parker is listed as the owner. As the old rate records do not list the section and allotment number, it is difficult to trace the earlier owners, but there is the possibility the cottage was on the block before James was there, so it could possibly be older than 1884.
James Parker’s son, Arthur, and his wife Helen (nee Temple) were the next owners of the Mills Cottage, and according to family members, they were the ones who built around it.
Arthur Parker owned and worked the bakery on High Street. The cottage was on his allotment behind the bakery in Gavan Street; as well as the High and Gavan Street allotments, Arthur also owned one that fronted Powlett Street. There was a huge woodyard on his land, which supplied the wood for Parker’s Bakery, as well as stables for the horses and various other outbuildings.
In 1912 Horace Stimson came from the western districts to be Arthur’s apprentice at the bakery, and three years later, married Arthur’s niece, Eva Clark. Needing somewhere to live, the newlyweds moved into the cottage.
Ev Mason, Horace and Eva’s daughter remembers: “The house was rented out after Horace and Eva moved out, with many people coming and going over the years. I remember a Mr. Thomas who was a nice old bloke. Unsure if he worked or not but he attended the Salvation Army. When he moved, the house was repaired and painted”.
Ev also remembers others who lived there, many ‘New Australians’ (refugees) who had great vegetable gardens and were very friendly people. Like Sophie and her husband John, Ev can remember Sophie collecting sugar bags and making things, and she used to embroider beautiful cushions, one of which Ev still has today. Sophie had obviously lived through the difficult times as she used to tell Ev’s mum that she “peeled the potatoes too thick and was wasting too much”.
The house and block were passed onto Hilda and Gordon Mills in about 1970. Hilda was Horace and Eva Stimson’s eldest daughter.
Recollections of the cottage:
In the 1930’s Ruth Davern remembers: “When I was at school, a Chinese gentleman lived there, and grew beautiful vegetables. He had the whole yard cultivated, and would often barter or sell these vegetables. There was a well and it was good to see him carry two buckets of water across his shoulders with a type of yolk. This was approximately 1937.”
In the 1950’s Kevin Hender remembers: “When Wally Reece (Wally the German as everyone called him) lived there, he had a huge vegetable garden and worked with the Shire cleaning gutters for many years. I remember delivering food to him from my father’s store when I was delivering the orders.”
In the 1960’s Graeme Marshall remembers: “When the Surf family lived there, Lorna was in my class and her brother Peter was older. The house then had been added to numerous times.”
Stan Bruce remembers: “My grandfather Alec Peel also lived in the cottage whilst Mrs Young was living there and I used to go and visit. I cannot remember going inside but think it would have been in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Alec lived there with Mrs Young until he went to one of the senior citizen units in Mollison Street.”
In the 1970’s Elaine Henry remembers: “Whilst working for Shire of Broadford doing domestic work, I worked for a Mrs. Young who lived in the cottage. It had dirt floors which shocked me.”
Julie Tennant (Mills) remembers: “The cottage was the first family home that I lived in; it was during the 1970’s and Greg’s father, Gordon, owned the cottage as it was left to his wife, Hilda; she was Horace and Eva Stimson’s eldest daughter. Greg and I were in need of a home so moved there in about 1975. The home was in need of repair then, and was very small and very cold. We had 2 small children at the time, but we made the most of it. The floor needed covering so mill felt was used. The side of the cottage was an add-on, and was in worse repair than the cottage. The whole cottage was covered with weatherboard and painted blue. The backyard was overgrown and it took a lot of effort to clean it up. Our first week there we gave it a paint.
Whilst we were living there, the house had a kitchen with a wood stove and the front room had the fireplace with a fancy mantel piece. The inside walls were covered with mill felt. There was a side room but that was not fit for habitation, and I remember there was a step down from the kitchen to the lounge and there were three small rooms, all lined with mill felt. I think the main cottage was the kitchen (after seeing the photos of cottage), because of the large fireplace. We left toward the end of the seventies because one night there was a huge storm and the house flooded. We just left with our babies.”
In the 1990’s Kevin Ezard remembers: “We were commissioned to build a home for Betty Crowl, on the vacant block. While working on the site I was doing a burn -off of the rubbish, and apparently there was an old well in the backyard because it exploded. The explosion vibrated half the town and the fire brigade were called to the site. They thought the explosion may have been caused from a build up of gases down the well. It shook the town like Puckapunyal does sometimes.” – “That was the day that Kevin Ezard rocked Broadford!”
The cottage finds a new home
April 1977
The Broadford and District Historical Society was notified by The Mills family that the cottage next to the Salvation Army Hall was available and must be removed within 3 months. The cottage was discovered when demolishing the existing building surrounding it. As the building had been added to many times it was a discovery no one had expected to find contained within. Help from Shire was sought for relocation and permits.
April 1978
Noted in the Broadford and District Historical Society minutes, that work had commenced on the site near the pioneer Cottage, stumps had been put in and the building had been removed from the block.
1983
The Cottage was onsite and gardens surrounding it were commenced. There were discussions regarding the shingles for the roof.
1984 – 1985
Discussions regarding the roof continued, and there was assurance from the Shire that works would be completed shortly. Prices for the shingles were obtained from Ballarat companies, but it was decided, after Mr Hender sought prices, that the local sawmillers could cut the same type, for less than the cost of the Ballarat ones.
1986
The building is finished but not furnished. Discussions by The Broadford and District Historical Society thought perhaps it could be presented as a bachelor’s cottage.
2020s
Unfortunately, the cottage has, in recent years, had to be used for storage. Recently white ants had caused major destruction, but thankfully the Mitchell Shire have had baits laid and repaired the building.