A photograph of William Henry (Harry) Collins with, presumably, his family travelling into Longwarry in 1898.
This image offers a very good example of the wooden tramlines that transported timber and people around before roads.
Known as Harry, Collins was originally a carpenter from the Macedon district in Victoria.
Collins arrived in Longwarry in 1882 and took up a job as a tram driver with the Trinca brothers at the Labertouche Creek Mill. He soon bought the mill from the Trincas.
An interesting character - one might even say a colourful character, it is clear from reports that he was a demanding, even belligerent, man.
Records and local newspaper reports show that he was not unknown in the Warragul and Drouin courts, with allegations ranging from wilful damage of other people's property to assault. It was Collins' view that he was only extracting summary justice for ills that had been done to him.
On one occasion, a tin mine was set up on the banks of the Bunyip River above one of Collins' mills. The water sluicing from the tin mine flowed down past his site where a number of workers and their families lived. Naturally, this severely tainted their water supply.
Collins made several requests to the tin mine operators, including to run an aqueduct behind his mill to enter the river further down.
All requests were refused, so Harry's solution was to place some dynamite under the offending sluice and blow it up. This resulted in one of his court appearances for wilful damage.
William Henry "Harry" Collins died on December 6, 1906 at the age of 59 years.
Photograph courtesy of Mike McCarthy. Information courtesy of Mr McCarthy and Longwarry and District History Group.
Mike is author of "Settlers and Sawmillers".
The history group focuses on history in the 3816 postcode, including Longwarry, Labertouche and Modella.
For further information, visit the group's Facebook page or website at longwarryhistory.org.au.