The Long and Winding Ride: Episode 15 – Oxley to Edi: Along the Prosecco Road

The Long and Winding Ride

 

 

 Episode 15 Oxley to Edi via Greta and Moyhu: Along the Prosecco Road

 

Stage 15 Oxley to Edi

 

A new direction on a long trip is like a breath of fresh air … like a new beginning. In stage 15 we cycle into the King River Valley as far as Edi. Along the way we detour off the ‘Prosecco Road’, as it is called by the food and wine marketing fraternity, to visit two of the Ovens and King League’s most successful clubs – Greta and Moyhu. There we will learn of the football feats of four players who made names for themselves in the VFL/AFL – John Hendrie, Alan Jarrott, Ian Montgomery and Darren Steele.

 

The King River is a tributary of the Ovens River, with their confluence located at Wangaratta. It rises in the Australian Alps near the unusually named Mount Buggery. It flows mostly in a northerly to north-westerly direction and is the lifeblood of the King Valley. The river is impounded at William Hovell Dam for the purpose of providing irrigation water for cropping, livestock and vineyards between Cheshunt and Wangaratta.  

 

The Prosecco Road is actually a route rather than a single road. One that some wine and food lovers attempt on bicycles. Its name is derived from the sparkling wine variety of Italian origin that has become a favourite well beyond the King Valley. It is simply a relaxed stylish drink rather than a more formal toasting wine. Prosecco originates from northern Italy, the birthplace of King Valley winemaker Otto Dal Zotto who was inspired to grow the variety here in Victoria in 1999. Other winemakers in the region have followed the pioneering Dal Zotto, hence we have the trail known as the Prosecco Road. The King Valley prides itself on conveying the spirit of Italy, a reputation deserved as it is home to many generations of Italian migrant families that specialise in Italian style food and wine.

 

 

Greta

 

There is no township of Greta. It is best seen as a district, consisting of – Greta West, Fifteen Mile Creek, Greta South and Greta. Because of its location on the Old Sydney Road, many travellers stopped at Greta on their way to the gold diggings at Beechworth and the Buckland Valley. Businesses sprang up to serve the diggers, including a coach horse changing station, blacksmiths, hotels and schools. 

 

Ned Kelly’s family lived in the Greta area, at Fifteen Mile Creek, after the death of John Kelly in 1866. Since 2013, the Greta Cemetery is the place where Ned’s remains rest. His brother, Dan Kelly, and Steve Hart are buried in unmarked graves. His mother Ellen Kelly, his younger brother Jim and other family members are also buried in the cemetery at Greta.

 

    Kelly family site at Greta
(Google maps)

                                           

In February 1952 tragedy struck Greta. A bushfire ripped through the district claiming two lives, damaging homes, bridges, churches, farm property and killing livestock. The fire ultimately led to the Greta Football Club moving its home base. Greta first played in McKenzie’s paddock, opposite the Greta cemetery. After the bushfire, the Greta Recreation Reserve was created from a paddock next to the Greta-Hansonville Hall and the club moved there.

 

Greta Recreation Reserve
(Google maps)

 

 

Greta joined the Ovens and King League in 1945 and wasted no time in becoming a force. In 1946 the Blues were ‘coached’ by Wangaratta’s (Ovens and Murray League) coach Laurie Nash. Nash was invited by his friend, the designated Greta captain-coach Fred O’Brien, to assist with the preparation of the team. Nash’s coaching resulted in two premierships in the one season, as both Wangaratta and Greta won premierships in their respective leagues.

 

Greta’s 1946 premiership team with Laurie Nash in the middle of the back row and Fred O’Brien (with football in hand) in the middle of the second row.
(Source: All Links in the Chain by Neil Barter)

 

 

The Blues have won ten flags in the league and are reigning premiers. The best era for the club was the period 1958-75 when Greta made the finals in 18 consecutive years including the 1965-67 achievement of three flags in a row. Those flags were won with Ovens and King legend Maurie ‘Bumper’ Farrell a captain coach. Farrell was inducted into the Ovens and King League Hall of Fame in 2007. Another Greta great, Lionel Wallace, was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2006.

 

Tracing Greta’s history back to its formation in 1901, the Blues competed in a variety of associations, including the King Valley FA (premiership years 1910 as Greta South, 1920/21 Greta) and the Benalla and District League.

 

To read about Greta’s controversial 1954 grand final victory over Chiltern, won in what some scribes have called the “fifth quarter”, go to episode 12. 

 

From Greta to Victoria Park

Reliable but understated Collingwood defender Ian Montgomery started his football career at Greta. He played 53 games across three seasons in the Ovens and King League (1960-62) before joining the Magpies – the Wangaratta Magpies that is. He was scouted by Collingwood under the recommendation of two former Collingwood players: Bob Rose (Wangaratta Rovers coach) and Neville Waller (Wangaratta coach). Upon joining Collingwood, Bob Rose was Montgomery’s first year coach. When ‘Monty’ made his debut in 1965 he was selected in the back pocket with the task of picking up the resting rover, a job he relished with strong and fearless close checking. He was at Victoria Park for four seasons, tallying 48 games, included among them the 1966 grand final.

 

From Greta to Arden Street/MCG

Darren Steele played junior football at Greta in the Thirds, with his father Des (a former Collingwood player) at the coaching helm of the club. The youngster was on the rise and after one year with Wangaratta in 1982, North Melbourne signed yet another talent from the Ovens and Murray League. In 1984 he debuted for North Melbourne. At Arden Street Steele became a very useful ‘spare parts man’ – a tagger, defender and utility player. He tallied 119 games for the Kangaroos before being traded to Geelong in 1993. Steele played a further 18 games in two seasons before being delisted.

 

Moyhu

Thirty minutes after leaving Greta we are back on the Prosecco Road beside the King River at Moyhu. The small village was established in the 1860s at the crossing point of the King River between Milawa and the pastoral station of the Farrell family, originally from Ireland. Selectors arrived in the fertile valley in the late 1850s. Victoria’s first narrow gauge railway line (2’ 6”) was constructed in the King Valley, linking places including Whitfield, Edi and Moyhu with the main line at Wangaratta.  Several of the whistle-stop station name-boards, including Angleside, Claremont, Dwyer, Pieper and Jarrott, can still be seen. By the 1890s Moyhu had become the hub of the King Valley for social and sporting events, including horse racing and football. 

 

Moyhu Recreation Reserve
(Google maps)

 

The Moyhu Football Club was established in 1891. Games were initially played against local villages prior to an organized competition, the Ovens and King Association, which was founded in 1903. Moyhu joined in 1904 and promptly won the premiership that season. It was the first flag of many for the club, long known as the ‘Grasshoppers’. Soon after, the club won three premierships in a row (1909/10/11), a feat matched by only two O&K clubs (Beechworth on two occasions and Greta) and only surpassed by one (Glenrowan with four). 

 

Moyhu Football team premiers 1909,10,11

(source: Lost King Valley on Facebook)

 

In team photo above, standing in the back row fourth from the left, is Jack Slater. Ovens and King historian Jim Milne penned an interesting anecdote concerning Jack in his 1962 history of the league. Jack, who lived at Cheshunt, would ride his bicycle to Milawa where he would then travel to away matches with his teammates. By the time he got back to Cheshunt he may have covered 120 miles. Slater must have had enough of the long football journeys to Milawa and beyond as he later joined Moyhu, only a hop, skip and a jump away from home comparatively speaking.

 

Moyhu has won the most premierships in the O&KFL, currently numbering 18. Moyhu footballers who have played VFL football include: Alan Skehan (Carlton), Allan Johnstone (Fitzroy), John Flanigan (Hawthorn), Johnny Dalton (Melbourne), John Hendrie (Hawthorn) and Alan Jarrott (North Melbourne/Melbourne).

 

Not only has Moyhu produced some outstanding footballers, it provided the Ovens and King League with two administrators who contributed 70 years of service – Clyde Baker (secretary from 1934-73) and his son Fred Baker (secretary 1974 – 2004). Clyde was among the first group of players/officials inducted into the Ovens and King League Hall of Fame in 2006. Fred, as a player and for his service as league secretary, was inducted two years later.

 

From Moyhu to Glenferrie Oval

 

John Hendrie played junior football with Moyhu before attending Scotch College in Melbourne. ‘Bomber’ Hendrie’s 197 game career at Hawthorn (1972-82) was highlighted by a best on ground performance in the Hawks’ 1976 grand final victory, a second premiership in 1978, an equal third placing in the 1975 Brownlow Medal and a tally of 254 goals. Hendrie’s raking left foot kicks off the half forward flank were his trademark. He was also a handy cricketer for Hawthorn-East Melbourne. When his VFL days ended he moved to Sydney and played with the North Shore Football Club.

 

From Moyhu to Arden Street

 

Alan Jarrott was a Moyhu born and bred boy who would play 190 games in the VFL for North Melbourne (79 games)  and Melbourne (91). He was from a dairy farm just outside of Moyhu. Alan was destined for bigger things after taking out Moyhu’s best and fairest award and being runner-up in the O&KFL Clyde Baker Medal as an 18 year old in 1974. North Melbourne secured the half back flanker and ruck rover in 1977. 

 

I will let KB Hill take over the Alan Jarrott story.

 

 

Lunch stop

 

Today it has to be Italian food and wine. An antipasto selection big on pickled veges, accompanied by a glass of Prosecco, Sangiovese or Barbera, will do fine. The Edi Cutting streamside reserve is an ideal place to enjoy the local fare.

 

Edi

 

Our stage 15 destination is the locality of Edi, a former gold mining settlement on the banks of the King River. The sequence of occupance in the area has seen pastoralism, gold mining, tobacco and hop growing, winemaking and tourism follow one another as the mainstays of the local economy. A government-owned experimental tobacco farm was established at Edi in 1896 to select the best varieties for cultivation in Australia.

 

Edi had a football team in the pre World War I era (1912-1914) playing challenge matches against opponents from local towns such as Moyhu Juniors and Whitfield. On occasions, Edi and King Valley combined to make up a stronger team. In the 1920s and early 1930s Edi participated in the King Valley Football Association against King Valley, Moyhu Rovers (Moyhu Seconds), Myrrhee, Whitfield, Cheshunt and Greta. Edi won the KVFA premiership in 1933 defeating an inaccurate Cheshunt by six points. The KVFA folded after the 1934 season due to a lack of players. Many men were away from the district in search of work during the Depression years.

 

Next episode

In the final stage we reach Cheshunt in the upper King Valley.

 

 

More from Peter Clark can be read Here.

 

 

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