Bayles is a small township in West Gippsland, east of Koo Wee Rup. It was developed when a rail link was constructed from Koo Wee Rup to Strzelecki, which officially opened with 8 new stations in June 1922. The township grew up around the station which was named after the first railway authority worker to be killed in WW1. His name was Frederick Bayles, a bugler, who died at Gallipoli. This year marks the Centenary of that railway opening. The railway did not last many years – firstly, the wooden bridges near Strzelecki became unstable and so the line was shortened in stages back to Triholm (now called Poowong East), then Topiram, Heathhill and Yannathan. When the drainage works on the swamp required a longer bridge to take the train from Bayles to Catani, the funding of 22,000 pounds was not available. The rail link closed back to just Bayles where trains continued to take sand and farm produce to Koo Wee Rup and on into Melbourne until 1959. The station site was abandoned and became an eyesore and rubbish dump, until 1970 when the local community turned it into a Fauna Park which is still visited today. In 1928 a school had been built and has continued to operate ever since, barring a phase from May 1970 when classes were taken in the public hall due to the entire school burning down and not being rebuilt for a whole year! The school merged with Catani School in 1994 to become Bayles Regional Primary School which now has nearly 160 pupils.
On our Centenary Day out township will be decked out in blue and white bunting (the school colours) and we are hoping to welcome many residents, ex-residents, those interested in local history or railway history and anyone who would like a good day out in a small township. Every possible public building will be open for inspection and reminiscing including the school, kindergarten, service station, public hall, fire station, general store, tennis club room, Fauna Park with its museum, and Bandicoot corner. There will be bus rides with commentary following the path of the railway to Yannathan and back via Yallock, horse and carriage rides, guided walks through the township, live music, several food outlets, children’s activities including Animals on the Move, a special unveiling and a Ceremony in the Bayles Hall at midday. Local school children will participate in the ceremony along with a guest speaker, presentation of old film clips, musings from older residents a HUGE birthday cake and so on. Later, there will be a showing of the film ‘Le Ride’ which recreates the 1928 Tour de France in which Bayles man Percy Osborn took part – he was one of the best three cyclists in Australia at the time, along with Hubert Opperman and Ernie Bainbridge. The fourth member of the team was New Zealand’s champion, Harry Watson. Come along and watch to find out how well they performed! The other famous sportsman to grow up in Bayles was jockey Geoff Lane, known as Racing’s Golden Boy, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013 and passed away in 2019. We can show you the house he lived in and maybe have some words from one of his childhood friends. The official day will end with the drawing of our raffle for which we have received wonderful prizes from our generous supporters including Woolworths and Bunnings, along with many local businesses from Koo Wee Rup, Amstel at Cranbourne, Cattle Agents and local individuals. Raffle tickets have been on sale for a few weeks and will be sold on the day.
There is no entrance fee to this celebration and the activities are free, although we may ask for a voluntary gold coin donation towards the rides. We have been lucky with sponsorship, particularly local member Jordan Crugnale, Bendigo Banks at Koo Wee Rup and Lang Lang, the Pakenham Racing Club, Shire of Cardinia, Alex Scott, Delaneys Livestock, Rejuvin8 Hair Stylist, Ron Townley of Kitco and the Lions Club of Koo Wee Rup. Our Back-to- Bayles Centenary committee is grateful to all sponsors and supporters and will do our best to provide a marvellous Celebration on the day – please come along!