10 March 2021 | Noel Ridge of the Victorian Harness Racing Heritage Collection
This impressive home named Bon Haven, built in 1932 at 181 High Street in Kangaroo Flat, a southern suburb of Bendigo, was reputed to be paid for by the earnings of Alf Petherick’s wonderful mare, Glideaway.
It was such an unusual house for working-class Kangaroo Flat. A Back to Kangaroo Flat booklet (1993) notes:
“Bon Haven was the envy of all. People came from far and wide, and those in vehicles, whether motor car or horse-drawn of which there were many at the time, in the middle of The Great Depression, could be seen to slow down as they passed to admire it.”
Glideaway was a daughter of the stallion Directway US (Direct-Electway), imported in 1902 as a yearling by Adelaide Hill Stud (Bendigo) owner Robert Matchett. Directway was one of the five American stallions selected and purchased during trips to California by Matchett’s stud master Bob Crowe. The colt was bred by Californian John F Boyd at the Oakwood Park Stock Farm at Danville, south-east of San Francisco.
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