PEZEKIAN, RED HILL SOUTH.
William Hopcraft's grants near the north end of Tucks Rd were crown allotments 70A and 70B, parish of Balnarring. As my rate transcriptions in 2010 were only for properties in the parishes of Kangerong and Wannaeue, when I read MEMOIRS OF A LARRIKIN, I did a special search and discovered that Hec Hanson's paternal grandfather, Hans Christian Hanson had first occupied 70B in 1887. This land fronted Tucks Rd and Stony Creek with its northern boundary just north of the junction of Musk Creek and Stony Creek to roughly 57 Tucks Rd.

North of c/a 70B, with with its north west corner indicated by the PRESENT north end of Tucks Rd (164 metres north of the original corner) was crown allotment 70A which also extended east to Stony Creek. Its northern boundary is indicated by the dotted blue line in Melway 190 E-H 8.

In 1894-5, John Hopcraft was occupying 70A. John was still there in 1902 when AROUND RED HILL was published. It was obviously a well-kept property.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/67082808
J. HOPCRAFT'S.
A splendid flower garden surrounds Mr Hopcraft's house. He has a nice little orchard and a vegetable garden; also a number of walnut trees. These yield splendidly, and Mr Hopcraft finds no difficulty in disposing of the nuts.

When I started researching Red Hill, I transcribed some 1919 assessments in the parish of Balnarring. James Rattray of Red Hill had been listed as the occupier of c/a 70A but his name had been crossed out and replaced with "Pezekian, Carlton". This man had obviously occupied the property in mid 1919.
Crown allotment 70A can be seen on the left hand side of the bottom portion of the Balnarring parish map.
digital.slv.vic.gov.au/dtl_publ…/simpleimages/…/1191007.html

As there are no later rate records available on microfiche, I wondered how long he'd stayed there and if I could find out more about this New Aussie.
(Richard Broome told those attending the Dromana Historical Society 30th recently that historical societies should place more emphasis on non Anglo-Irish migrants to become more relevant to a large proportion of the population.)

COLLAPSED WHEEL CAUSES ACCIDENT.
When Mr. Mehran Pezekian, of Red Hill, was returning from Victoria Market in a motor truck on Tuesday morning a front wheel of the truck collapsed as he was passing the Elks Cafe, at Seaford. The mishap caused the truck to collide with a stationary motor car, owned by Dr. V. B. Brenton, of Station street, Port Melbourne, in which Mrs. Brenton was seated. After its impact with the car the truck swerved into the large window in the front of the cafe. The large window frame was wrenched from its foundation, but only two panes of glass were broken. Mrs Brenton suffered from shock.(P.1, Frankston and Somerville Standard, 24-2-1934.)

Mehran had stuck at it despite some bad luck with a fire in 1927* and mongrel cabbage seeds in 1928**.
*Two fires broke out in the Red Hill district. The first outbreak was near the Flinders-road. The homesteads of Messrs. Hansen,(Hanson), Pezekian. Lesslng, and Jarman were endangered.(P. 9, The Age, 15-2-1927.)

Alf Hanson had sold the original "Alpine Chalet" and the southern 69 acres of 70B to the Lessings just after the 1919-20 assessment. While Littlelejohn the builder was erecting a new Alpine Chalet on the northern 20 acres of 70B, the Hansons lived on the Blakeley property, "Ecclesall", now partly occupied by the Consolidated School. (P.10, MEMOIRS OF A LARRIKIN.) The Jarmans were on "Devonia" near Stony Creek Rd.

**http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202291754

Mehran had operated a fruit shop in Johnston St Abbotsford at about the time he moved onto 70A, probably with a swollen head.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155211547
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/221833799

More bad luck struck Mehran (known as Jack) in 1935 when his wife Mabel Irene, nee Burgin, died. She was buried at Coburg. (P.1, The Age, 26-11-1935.)

Probably due to the aforementioned fire and crook cabbage seed of 1927 and 1928, Mehran (written as Miran) was in financial difficulty and faced having his farm sold by the sheriff because of unpaid taxes or rates. It consisted of only 63 acres of 70A so Neilson, mentioned regarding the fire, might have owned the other roughly 16 acres. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3945521


Mehran's desire to sell his farm in 1933 was possibly prompted by Mabel Irene's failing health but the odds of a successful sale during the depression would not have been great.
NEXT WEDNESDAY. 11th JANUARY. .
At Half-past 2 o'clock.
At 31 Queen-Street. MELBOURNE.
Mr. M. PEZEKIAN'S FARM
At RED HILL,
Containing 66 Acres, 50 A. Cleared. 7 A. Under Subt. Clover. Splendid Chocolate soil,
Grows Heavy Crops of Potatoes, Onions, &c., and Suitable for Grazing.
OWNER IS A DEFINITE SELLER.(P.2, The Age, 7-1-1933.)

MEHRAN'S MARRIAGE RECORD.(Typos at no extra cost!)
EventMarriage Event registration number3842 Registration year1905
Personal information
Family namePEZEKIAN Given namesMehran Seraph SexUnknown Spouse's family nameBURGEN Spouse's given namesMabel Irenie

A number of other Armenians arrived after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and the Turkish massacres of 1894-97. In 1897 a Turkish Armenian from the province .of Sivas, Haroutian Balakian, arrived in Melbourne, via Constantinople and London, where he established himself as an importer. Other Armenians from Sivas followed him to Melbourne after World War I.
In 1900, Mehran Pezekian, an Armenian from Kayseri, Turkey, migrated to Australia via Egypt. After living for a time in Melbourne and Tasmania he eventually settled on a farm at Red Hill, Victoria.
ARMENIAN MIGRATION, SETTLEMENT AND ... - Open Research
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/…/04Chapter3_Kir…