itellya on Family Tree Circles

As my aim is to provide new history and to make history accessible, I need to read what is already available to ensure that I am not repeating information. As some books, such as Pine Trees and Box Thorns, Rosebud Flower of the Peninsula and The Red Hill are not available for loan, I make it part of my role to summarise information in them that is not available in other books. This is not intended to replace the Red Hill journal that I have already started. Where surnames are in bold type, this indicates that additional information will be given at the end of the summary. Short comments appear in brackets.
ADOD = A Dreamtime of Dromana by Colin McLear; MOAS =Memoirs of a Stockman by Hec Hansen.

Sheila Skidmore is a descendant of the Sheehan family. There is no indication of when the book was published. (See comment 1 after journal.) The book may be perused at Mornington Peninsula libraries but not borrowed. The Dromana Historical Society has the book but I don't think they would have copies for sale.(See comment 1 after journal.)

P.9. Andrew McCrae named Bald Hill and his son, George Gordon McCrae, said that they had seen the colour of gold in the 1840's beyond the bald or red hill. (This was probably along Bulldog Creek or Tubbarubba Creek.) Bald Hill was marked on a county of Mornington map and could have been the original name for Red Hill.

P.11. 1862. The parish plan shows an area marked Red Hill marked out with streets and suburban blocks. (I can only assume the location of this settlement to be crown allotment 74, parish of Balnarring, sold as a closer settlement, with blocks of just under 20 acres, in order to cope with the 1890's depression, where the Prossor, Thiele, Nash etc families settled later. Red Hill extends into Kangerong and Wannaeue parishes and there is little indication of "suburban blocks" apart from near "Four Winds" in Kangerong. The first postmaster, William Marshall, bought 19 acres at the north east corner of Prossors Lane; see Post Office.)

CORRECTION. THE FIRST POSTMASTER WAS ALEX MARSHALL.

SEE COMMENT 1 AFTER JOURNAL.

M.Peppers had selected the site, later used for a post office, and C.Golding , a cordial manufacturer from Van Diemans Land, an area close by. (Charles R.Goulding was granted crown allotment 9, Kangerong in what seems to have been 1890. This 262 acre block was bounded by Eatons Cutting Rd, Boundary Rd, White Hill Rd and Tumbywood Rd so perhaps the streets and suburban blocks were near McIlroy Rd and "Four Winds".)SEE COMMENT 1 AFTER JOURNAL.

James Wiseman purchased 106 acres on 24-2-1862 and J.Arkwell 142 acres on 5-4-1862.
James Wiseman was born in 1830 in Ruthven, Scotland and sailed from London in June 1851 aboard Captain Godfrey's "Statesman". Arriving at Geelong he spent time with varying success at the diggings at Avoca, Ballaarat, Bendigo , Castlemaine and Otago in New Zealand. After another 8 years plying his blacksmith trade in Melbourne, during which time he married fellow Scot, Christina Bain, and James, John and Christina were born, he moved to Red Hill where Janet and William were born.

John Arkwell was born in Hereford, England in the 1820's. Hannah Lewis, whom he married, was 19 when she arrived in 1854. She was said to have wheeled King Edward vii in his pram. John and Hannah settled at Abbotsford and ran a plant nursery on the site of the Abbotsford Convent. Emily, Alice and Walter were born at Abbotsford while Ernest, Herbert, Clara and Percy were born at Red Hill.
(Detail is given about Wiseman's smithy and Arkwell's house, land and orchard.)
Soon after, these two families were joined by the McKeown, McIlroy, Davis, Kemp, Holmes, Dunn , and Cleine families and later the Blakely and Sheehan families. At this time Red Hill was heavily timbered but there was no scrub so it was possible to gallop a horse between the trees. (Sheila discusses the aboriginal presence, indicated by stone which originated far away from the area, but the lack of scrub was another sign. Frequent burning made it much easier to hunt kangaroo and Wonga, "pigeon" because the prey had nowhere to hide!

P. 12-13.(Shirley discusses Eaton's and Simon's Cuttings and the pioneers after whom they were named. She refers to O'Brien's Cutting but this track was named after John Bryan. See ADOD.)
The McKeowns were the third family in Red Hill. They named Glenbower after the home in Ireland.
They landed in Portland and worked at Tower Hill. Sheila's niece found broken willow china in the Glenbower garden and near the well. (Willow crockery was one luxury common to most peninsula pioneer households!)

The McKeowns sold to Sheila's great grandfather Sheehan . He had come from County Cork, Ireland to Adelaide where he worked as a brickmaker. He married Mr Ewer's daughter and they set off looking for land in their bullock cart, a wedding present. They selected land at Lake Marma, Murtoa, staying 15 years before moving to Red Hill in 1885.

Henry Dunn came to the Mornington Peninsula in the mid 1840's.He leased Jamieson's Special Survey (Safety Beach area east to the line of Bulldog Creek Rd, from 1846 to 1851)and then moved up the hill and ran stock on land near the old Red Hill post office. Hebuilt stockyards and bought a property known as "Four Winds" where he bred ponies. It was later purchased by William Calder , Chairman of the Country Roads Board (after whom the Calder Highway was named.)

Charles, the first of the Cleine family came from Groningen, now part of Holland. He ran away from home at the age of 12 to avoid compulsory military training and retained his pacifist belief which caused arguments at Cleine's Corner between him and Mr (CHARLES?) White. He had a certificate for a donkey engine and worked for L.L.Smith building bridges. He married and had a large family. A little grave near the homestead site in the valley is marked by moss roses.

William McIlroy came to Australia in 1860 from Littlebridge, Moneymore, Northern Ireland. Camping in a tent at the top of Elizabeth St, he carried "hod" for builders during the day and repaired boots in his tent at night. When he had saved 72 pounds, he bought tickets for his wife and nine children to join him and sent them home, but he was duped as there was no ship, and had to save again.His family arrived safely in 1862 and lived in a log cabin built on 700 acres of land. William continued to work in Melbourne selling butter, eggs, bacon and cheese from his cart but returned home at weekends.
William John, his eldest son, was 16 on arrival and worked for a butcher and in his spare time worked for two Danes who owned a merry-go-round.At 32, W.J. married Elizabeth Hillis . They lived at "Littlebridge" in McIlroys Rd and had 12 children. He ran sheep on a paddock in Dunn's Creek Rd where some gold had already been found. (Tubbarubba diggings.)

P.15. Details of William John's children compiled by the eldest, John; Sarah became Mrs Prosser. (The 1890's settlers were named Prossor, so she probably married into the family of Henry Prosser, and was related to the Sawyers of Moorooduc/Bittern and the Griffith family of Dromana/Main Creek.
While on the topic, Keith's family was not related to J.Holmes, grantee of land bounded on the east by Red Hill Rd, whose south west corner is now occupied by Vines of Red Hill,and which adjoined the Kangerong Nature Conservation Reserve.)
William John McIlroy's brother, Joseph, married Sarah Hillis and they had nine children. (Details on page 18.)
Photo of early house,(almost certainly Blakeley's house discussed on page 24.)
P.16. Photo of coolstore and rail yard.
P.17. Joseph McIlroy's diary. (Only entries about other pioneers or significant events included here.)
1877.
Wed. 20-9-1877. Married in Dromana at 12:30 at Mechanics' Institute by Rev. J. Caldwell of Mornington.Guests at father's house included the McIlroys, Simpsons, Cleines, Whites, Aults, Miss Hopcraft, Miss Kemp and Mr and Mrs Hillis. A week later he started working for Mr Huntley .
On Sunday 2 Nov., he went to Dromana to hear Mr Robinson preach the funeral sermon for Mr (Watson)Eaton. After the service, he went to Rosebud to hear Mr Barker (at the Methodist church on the fishing village block donated by Nelson Rudduck which is now a medical clinic. Possibly Mr E.Barker mentioned on page 32 who was a lay preacher at Red Hill Methodist Church till his death in 1905.) Called at Mrs Pedota on way home. (This meant that he went home via Dromana where Peter Piddota owned the 17 acres between William Watkins' Dromana Hotel and Carrigg St, which is named after Lou Carrigg, a later owner of the hotel.)
In November, Joseph was shearing at Huntley's and clearing at home. On 12 Dec., he picked berries and the next day went to the point (quarantine station and probably a fort too judging by the torpedoes mentioned in 1878)and then Sorrento, shooting a lot of rabbits on the way home. (Underground mutton!)
Dec.26 and 27. Carted fruit to Dromana and Melbourne. (The amount of travel done by Joseph on atrocious roads was extraordinary!) Mr Brady was the preacher at that time.(His daughter in law, Rose-nee Roberts- was a mainstay and organist at the Rosebud Methodist Church mentioned recently.)
P.18.On Easter Monday, 1878, Joseph went to "The Rosebud" to see the torpedoes. Joseph's children and dates of birth were: Henry Joseph 20-9-1878, William 6-11-1879, James 30-11-1881, Thomas Johnston 21-1-1883,
May 13th MAY,1885 (Get it?), Herbert John 20-6-1887, Frederick 3-6-1889, Arthur 28-5-1891.
21-5-1878. Went to see Mrs Counsel through the ranges.
24-11-1880.Went to Mr McConnell's at night with the long rifle.

P.19. 9-3-1881. Got to Mr Hillis place on the way home from Frankston with a steer and stayed the night. (The pregnant Sarah and her two youngster were probably staying with grandpa, whose place was not really on the way home.)
15-6-1881.Went out to Riddell's Plains in the morning. (This area was almost certainly named after John Carre Ridell after whom Riddells Creek was named. With his partner, Hamilton, he established Cairn Hill near Gisborne and the Camieston Estate at Tullamarine with the one acre blocks between Bulla Rd, now Melrose Drive, and Derby St named Hamilton Terrace. He was probably a squatter fattening bullocks near Red Hill in the early days. Keith hadn't heard of Riddell's Plains; perhaps somebody else would know its location.)

AT THIS POINT, I FOUND OUT THAT THE BOOK WAS NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE DROMANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. THERE IS NO NEED TO FURTHER SUMMARISE THE BOOK, BUT AS IT DOES NOT HAVE AN INDEX, I WILL LIST ANY PIONEERS MENTIONED SO THAT FAMILY HISTORIANS WILL KNOW IF THEIR ANCESTORS WERE MENTIONED.
p.19.
21-8-1881. Went to the diggings with W. Sherwood.
P.20.
5-1-1882. Went to Mr Gray's for the wheel of the sewing machine we got last week.
Easter Monday 1882. Went down to the lighthouse. (I thought that it may have been moved to the top of Arthurs Seat at the time but this occurred in 1871 according to Colin McLear.)
9-11-1882. Went to Mrs Hindmarsh's funeral.
7-10-1884. Mr Huntley died this morning. 6-1-1885. Mrs Huntley died.27-4-1888.
P.21.
27-4-1888. Joseph's daughter was burnt and he took her to the doctor at Schnapper Point on the 28th.
29-4-1888. Back home and the Hon. Thomas Langton called in.
P.22. 16-6-1890. Mrs Gibson died. 20-10-1890. Got orders to stop work at Huntley's.
26-9-1892. Took a lease of Huntley's for 5 years.
24-7-1893. Went down to PINEGROVE and bought the mare for 5 pounds from Mr John Davies. Went to Dromana to vote for my brother, William.

P.23. The Post Office. At first the mail came to Schnapper Point, later Dromana, by boat and was conveyed to Red Hill on horseback. About 1871, the post office opened with the first postmaster,Alex Marshall, being paid 10 pounds p.a. He was followed by S.Davies in 1873, Emma Maloney in 1876. Blakeley purchased the P.O. for George Cousins (or Cussens, as I have seen it written) his son in law).
The Misses Baker earlier had a bakery at cnr. Sheehans and Mt Arthur Rd (the original south end of White Hill Rd before Wiseman's Deviation was built)on land previously owned by Messrs Brown and Jackson.
P.24. Details of W.H.Blakeley's origins, expertise, Melbourne workshop and purchase of the consolidated school site from the grantee, R.Holding who was Red Hill's first teacher and lived in a log cabin (which is probably the one shown on page 15.) Blakely and Captain Billy Moore were partners in the "Fear Not", a 2 masted schooner that carried firewood from Dromana and returned with provisions. It was wrecked on sandbanks far offshore when it put to sea in a northerly.
P.O. (CONT.)Elizabeth Wheeler from 1878 followed by Ethel M.Wheeler 11-11-1925, Miss A.Liversidge, F.Molloy in 1954, L.H.Dawson, R.Kinder.
P.25. Telegraph 1912, telephone 1924. Receiving office at Red Hill Sth from 22-1-1923 : Mrs C.Harding, A.Greaves 1925, D.G.Stevenson 1930, T.B.Erlansen 1935, W.Pedley 1945, M.Connell 1965. C. Harding, "Darkie" was a champion Somerville footballer a decade later; was the first postmistress his wife? T.B.Erlandsen might have been a descendant of Erland Erlandsen- see Lime Land Leisure.)
P.26. Photo of the first school.
P.27. Education. 1860's, school 77 on James Wiseman's land at the north end of Arkwell's Lane, first teacher Mr Gournan. Became a state school on the same location on 1-1-1874 with the students being: Wiseman 4, Arkwell 3, Cleine 3, McIlroy 1, Davis 3, Blakely 3, McKeown 3, Hillis 1, Turner 3, Head 2, Bendy 4, Pearse 3, Griffith 1. The Griffith family was near Moat's Corner.( The Griffith family had rented land on Jamieson's Special Survey since about 1860 that was known as Griffith's Flats, Melway 160 H4.)
The first teacher, R.Holding, had a negro servant called Mumford. George Beattie, who took over after three months had many problems. Tanks and toilets were brought on the "Rosa Mary Jane" by Captain Pedota (Pidota) and installed by James Morton. Henry Ault painted the school in 1875. William Henry Collins was the next teacher, followed by Ada Adelaide Thompson in 1882.
P.28. Land for the new school was purchased from W. Holmes and the new school opened on 16-9-1920 with Richard Rodda as H.T. A second room was built in 1928, the H.T. being H.Amos.Red Hill South opened in 1932 with Miss Marsh in charge.
P. 29. Other teachers at Red Hill were Mr F.Volk, N.Deckert, H.Campbell and C.Werry. Mrs A.Sheehan, who'd taught at the old school, filled a void in W.W.2.
Land was purchased from the Blakeley family in 1945 for the Consolidated School which opened on 6-2-1951, despite building starting in June 1948, because of water supply problems.
P.31-6. CHURCHES. Wesleyan Methodist 1884 on James Wheeler's block near the P.O. but a little further up the hill. Trustees-Edward Barker, William Kemp, James Wheeler, Jonathon Davis, Alfred Head, Nelson Rudduck and William McIlroy.The only debt when the church opened on 25-1-1885 was 24/- owed to Jonah Griffith .
The first to be married there were Jonathon Davis and Elizabeth Kemp . Organists were Miss Thompson till 1890, Misses Head and Wheeler then alternating until the latter married. Ernest Arkwell was appointed Chapel Steward in 1890 and took over as a lay preacher following Mr E. Barker's death in 1905.
Main Creek Methodists opened in 1914.
In 1920, Mr Rudduck resigned as a trustee (replace by Charles Trewin) and Mr Kemp died(replaced by his daughter, Mrs Elizabeth Davis.) In 1932 the church was moved with Rev.L.Coulthard on top lifting wires. Other trustees were Mr E.Trewin (who died in 1962 after 38 years as a trustee), and Messrs J.Simpson, J.Holmes, R.Thurstain, and V.Trewin.
The church was closed in 1962 and sold to Peninsula Gardens(Melway 170 J9)in 1968 as a chapel for holiday makers.

PRESBYTERIAN. Dromana opened June 1888. (See P.121-3 of ADOD.) 1890 Red Hill services in school house. 1922 building committee Cr George Higgens and Messrs T.Chapman, R.Holland, A.Haig (former councillor), W.Haig and R.McSwain.Services in Red Hill Hall from 1927 due to increased population near station.The new church opened on 4-2-1934 with much of the building having been erected over 30 volunteers over 2 days (not quite as quick as the Rosebud church in front of the Rosebud Beach Safeway site!)
Organists Mrs H.J.Skidmore (who started the choir) and Mesdames Bowring, Buntrock, Blakely, Warnecke and Miss A.Liversidge*. (*See Red Hill P.O. A member of the family might have been the great goalkicker in the early years of Rosebud Football Club, formed 1929!) There were memorials in the church for Cr Higgens, and James Wiseman, Ken Davis and Ralph Erskine, three members killed in W.W.2.

CHURCH OF CHRIST. First service at Glenbower, home of Mr and Mrs Robert Sheehan in late 1885. Later they were held in alternate homes and the old State School. A Sunday School was run by Mrs John Sheehan, assisted by Mr Bowring. In early 1910 three sites for a chapel were considered andthat on Mr W.Holmes' property opposite Arkwells Lane was chosen. A small wooden chapel was built by Mr Harvey in April 1911; prior to this, baptisms were held in the sea at Shoreham and Dromana. In 1939, the hall was built and in 1956, the manse was built on land donated by Mr M.Wright.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. The Vicar at Flinders held some services at the school and at "Devona" (mainly for the Jarmans.)Rev. Watts of Hastings used to leave his motor bike at Merricks and walk along the railway line to Red
Hill in the winter (the roads being quagmires.) About 1949, Rev.Goodison conducted services in the Mechanics' Institute. The old school was bought on 1-6-1955 and named St George's with Rev. Reddrop conducting services.
p.36. Photos of Methodist and Presbyterian churches.

P.37. ROADS AND STORES. The cutting nearest the top of Arthurs Seat, Brien's (Bryan's)was mainly used as a bullock track for hauling timber to Dromana.Simon's Cutting was halfway down the mountain and extremely steep in places but a fair walking track.Eaton's Cutting reaches Arthurs Seat Rd almost the Consolidated School. Although formed and gravelled, it was subject to severe erosion. James Holmes was lucky to escape death when his motor buggy rolled backwards over a steep bank and overturned. (A village settlement pioneer, Thiele, was killed on Eatons Cutting Rd and Hec Hanson gives a great description of the surface in Memoirs of a Larrikin. I will be producing another journal about Red Hill based on Hec's memories, such as rescuing Mr Rodda from the open fire in the schoolhouse. In 1904, W.H.Blakely bought a Crestmobile (picture on P.62.)The Country Roads Board was formed in 1913 and tenders were awarded to Byrne Bros. and Vansuylen Bros. respectively for forming and metalling White Hill Rd. Mornington-Flinders Rd was declared a public highway in 1914.
P.38. Although some people such as William Shand still walked to Melbourne, it was more usual to travel from Dromana on vessels such as the Gertrude, Awaroa and S.S.Reliance which berthed at Little Dock (which catered to Lime and later firewood trade) or the famous steamers, Ozone, Hygea (sic) and Weeroona. Later Harry Cairns conducted a carrier business using a covered wagon drawn by two horses. This was about the only service from Red Hill to Melbourne.People walked, very early, to Moat's Corner to meet the wagon which got them to Mornington Station (very slowly) but in time to catch the 9a.m. train. Later a walk to Kennedy's Corner and a ride in a two horse coach to Bittern Station became popular.
(The late Ray Cairns' father, Harry, was called "Hill" Harry, and farmed at Maroolaba near Patterson Rd at Fingal. It was his cousin "Carrier" or "Rabbity" Harry Cairns, who lived near Melway 253 B9 and commenced his pick up of fish, rabbits and passengers at Cape Schanck.)

There was a small general store at the post office and William Hillis started a butcher's shop at the top of post office hill.Later there was another general store almost opposite the Presbyterian Church which was later used as a haberdashery and bootmaker's. The Red Hill Sth post office housed a general store and another general store was operated by Mr and Mrs W.E.Craig.(W.S.Craig played his 200th game of footy with Somerville in 1936 while living at Pearcedale, where there is a Craig Rd. Perhaps W.E.Craig was his cousin.)

P.39. On Monday afternoons the doctor (Weld?) came from Dromana and saw patients in the back of Craig's store.Also on Mondays the very small National Bank near the railway line was open for business.
P.40. Photos of an orchard and Holmes' valley in 1921.

P.41-3. THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENT. The Dromana Historical Society decided to reprint Sheila's book without any alterations. Hopefully there is now an index. Sheila's description of living conditions is excellent and settlers are quoted without mentioning any names. As in the case of an original pioneer, Frances Windsor, these later settlers have not been mentioned.
INFORMATION THAT I HAD COMPILED HERE ABOUT THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENT PIONEERS HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO A SEPARATE JOURNAL ENTITLED "PIONEERS OF THE VILLAGE SETTLEMENT AT RED HILL, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA."

P.44. Photos of the first Red Hill Show and Clearing the showgrounds. (I have seen a reference, which I can't find, to the showgrounds area being called Arkwell's Bush, and Bob White carting the timber that was cleared to Rosebud for firewood in his bullock dray.)

P.45. GOLD. In the 1880's B.F.Eaton wrote a letter to council asking permission to to cut a watercourse for mining purposes. He found 7 ounces of gold in 7 years. In Lime Land Leisure, the history of the Shire of Flinders, C.N.Hollinshed mentioned the gold mining brother of Watson Eaton but did not supply his given name. Why? Colin McLear had obviously given him a manuscript that was published after Colin's death as A Dreamtime of Dromana. Colin did not know the brother's name and Charles did not bother to find out.

I eventually discovered that the gold mining brother's name was Bernard in a Dromana Trades Directory of 1888.
I also discovered that Benjamin Eaton, a librarian, was paying rates on a Dromana property and suspect that he was paying rates for Maud Eaton, whom Colin discusses in some detail. Another librarian, Thomas Eaton, could have been another Eaton brother who had come out with the Griffith family from the United States.

Bernard F.Eaton would have known well how to cut a watercourse for mining purposes (a race); Wise's directory of 1868 had the following entry in the Alphabetical section: B.F.Eaton, race owner, Creswick.By supplying the initials, Sheila has turned the suspicion that Bernard was the Creswick race owner into a certainty.

Watson Eaton settled on a 150 acre block (7B, no section, Kangerong) at the west corner of Eatons Cutting Rd and Arthurs Seat Rd. Colin discusses his service as a doctor to the district, recalled by a plaque kept in a church and now in the Dromana Museum, which continued for many years until his death as a result of a fall while riding to a patient in 1877. Colin said that he'd had some medical training before leaving America but Watson, himself, denied that he had been to University or received medical training. (Report of an inquest in my "Dromana, Rosebud and Miles Around on Trove".)

The Eatons and Griffith families had started off on the Survey and their neighbours there, the Peateys and Clydesdales who lived east of Moats Corner, were among those who worked at Bernard's mine at Tubbarubba. The Moats probably found the missing evidence from the 1874 Schnapper Point Murder trial while working for Bernard.

P.46. Photos of woodchoppers at the first show and a special train to the first show

P.47. MURDER. This gives limited detail of the SCHNAPPER POINT MURDER of 1874, which was given that name rather than the Tubbarubba Murder because the initial hearing was held at Mornington.

The following is an extract from my "The Female Drover: A History of Moorooduc". Articles are from The Argus.

11-11-1871. LAND ACT 1869. Schedule of applications to be heard at the local land board, Mornington on 13-11-1871. James Flood Jnr (Bittern 106.0.30, 1 a and b), Frank Counsel (Kangerong 121.1.27, lot 21), Richard P.Counsel (Kangerong 126.1.15, lot 20), Samuel Sherlock (Moorooduc, 30 acres, a reserve), James Wilson (Moorooduc 230 acres, part of reserve), James E. Cook (Moorooduc 76 acres, lot 21 and a reserve), James D.Allison (Moorooduc 2 acres, a reserve), George Jackline ((Moorooduc 6 ac, a reserve), William Grover (Moorooduc 30.0.5, a reserve), James Holcombe (Moorooduc 8 acres, a reserve), Benjamin Benton(Moorooduc 30 acres, part of a reserve).
One would assume that Reserve would mean a timber or water reserve but I think that it must mean with-held from sale (alienation). Benjamin Bentons 30 acres could have been the farm mentioned in regard to lot 3 on 3-12-1877 or 32 acres west of the junction of Tuerong and Three Chain Rd, crown allotment 26A, for which he received the grant on 8-2-1876. Melway references are given where the lands location is known.
Jas. Flood Jnr. (actually 166.0.30 Island View Drive), F.Counsel (161 D10-12)
R.P.Counsel (west of F.Counsels ), S.Sherlock (probably near Green Island Avenue), James Wilson , J.Cook (possibly near Paperbark Dr. and Hyperno Way), W.Grover (possibly north east of the beach end of Main St).
James Wilsons land was possibly part of a surrendered pre-emptive right such as near the Mornington Racecourse or east of Tuerong station, where E.M.Wilson received a grant of nearly 160 acres in 1888. John and Agnes Wilson were on Tuerong Station in 1874 when the Schnapper Point Murder took place, and were witnesses at the trial. J.B.Wilson selected 163 acres between Tuerong Station and The Briars in 1875, that later became Cheshires Moorellen. As J.H.Wilson was John, J.B.Wilson could have been James.
Charles Wilson, the train driver who became President of Mornington Shire, and after whom the C.B.Wilson Reserve in Wilsons Rd, Mornington was named, was a child of the marriage of a Wilson lass from Tuerong and an unrelated Wilson lad from Mornington.

THE SCHNAPPER POINT MURDER.
21-9-1874. Several residents near Three Chain Road were witnesses in the case of the Schnapper Point Murder. James Firth and his brother had come to see John and Agnes Wilson, who were occupying the Tuerong Station following Ralph Ruddells insolvency, to borrow some arsenic. James helped the constable to find the body. John McCusker, who was a sheep farmer living north of the two vineyards that are now located on Foxeys Rd, and his cousin, Peter Donnelly, were also key witnesses. Patrick Shannon was acquitted of murdering John Moriarty (Argus 19-10-1874.) One mystery that remained was what had become of some items that Moriarty was known to be carrying at the time of his death. The Hobart Mercury reported on 22-7-1895 that Charles and Frank Moat had found Moriartys watch and scales, but stated that if these items had been available at the trial, the verdict would have been the same.
Charles and Frank Moat owned land between Moats Corner and the racecourse (which is now a Recreation Reserve (Melway 160 H-J6.) By 1895 Charles had married a Rye girl and had become a Rye resident. However the depression of the 1890s was at its worst and the Moats (and Clydesdale and Peatey lads) were probably working on the Tubbarubba diggings for Bernard Eaton (the mysterious Mr Eaton mentioned by Colin McLear and C.N.Hollinshed.)
Further details of the trial are mentioned in my Tuerong.

P.48. Photos of Chamber's Mill crew and the Red Hill hall.

P.49. THE GREAT WAR. Sheila lists Red Hill men who enlisted in the great war, giving details of deaths and diabilities resulting. They were Charles Trewin, William and Joseph McIlroy, William Hind (Merricks), Richard, Robert,Arthur and Herbert McIlroy, Reg and Sid Sheehan, Walter Champion, Jack Gibson, Walter Brown, Sam McKay, Joseph Smith, Andrew and Bert Nicholson, Harry Harrison, Chris, Ernie and Fred White, and Dave Barker from Main Creek. (Some names here confirm my choice of boundaries for my dictionary history journal.)

W.W.2. Sheila listed Bob Trewin, Jack Wiseman, Ken Davis, Ralph Erskine and Ern Radford, who all lost their lives. (Members of the Red Hill Football Club who enlisted are in the RED HILL ENLISTMENTS entry in my DICTIONARY HISTORY OF RED HILL journal.) The R.S.L. was formed in 1916 and the Dromana sub-branch in 1922. Red Hill received its charter in 1947, meeting in the Red Hill hall before purchasing two blocks at the end of the hall road (Mechanics Rd?)

P.50. Photos of the first train arriving and the railway opening.

P.51. A meeting in July 1882 in which Joseph McIlroy was involved and formation of the Mornington Peninsula Combined Railway League in June 1889 did little to help Red Hill and the depression of the 1890's (put a halt to Tommy Bent's massive expansion of railways, with Henry Gomm getting a station next to "Glenhoya" and his future Somerville Hotel just in the nick of time. I though Henry worth mentioning because his grandson, George, married a Wilson girl from Red Hill.) At a meeting at the Red Hill schoolhouse in 1899 (at night in atrocious weather conditions; I have read the newspaper article,a reformed railway league was formed with) William McIlroy as Chairman in the absence of Mr Downard M.L.A. (Downward). Office bearers elected were: William Harrison (Pres.), A.Bennett (Sec.), Robert Sheehan (Treas.) W.H.Blakeley, Mr Davey, William McIlroy and Thomas Cleine were appointed as a deputation to gain a railway extension to Red Hill and were to meet at Blakeley's premises in Lonsdale St (No.115 according to the 1919-20 rates.)There were arguments about alternative routes.

There always were arguments! Mt Eliza residents opposed a commonsense proposal to have a railway run directly to Mornington instead of the lengthy detour through Mornington Junction (Baxter.) A railway was proposed to Sorrento and Dromana actually had a "Railway Estate" bounded by Palmerstone Ave and Jetty and Boundary Rds. (1919-20 rates.) It was proposed that the railway go through Red Hill but a deputation from Moorooduc pointed out that a line passing through Moorooduc would save considerable distance and cost. Observer of Dromana probably owned much of the Railway Estate! (Google "railway, Sorrento, Red Hill, Moorooduc; e.g. Frankston and Somerville Standard 24-4-1925 p.1, Argus 23-4-1925 p.9.)
Alfred Downward was a much respected member of Parliament but it is amazing how his name was rendered as Downard from Rye to Red Hill by the pioneers.

P.53.The Railway's official opening on 23-9-1921 was organised by a committee that included Sam Tuck, a resident of Manton's Creek for 77 years and James Wiseman who was too sick to attend the opening, dying a few days later.Mrs Haig, aged 92 and a resident of 45 years helped the minister cut the ribbon.Messrs McIlroy, Haig and Calder were among the 25 speech makers.

P.56. Slow and late trains and William Calder's improved roads led to a lack of railway patronage and the last train left in June, 1954. Another photo of the opening.

P.57. FIRE. Cr George Higgens chaired a meeting in 1940 to form a fire brigade with Thomas Erlandsen, G.Jarman and Robert Holmes being elected as President, Secretary and Captain. In 1942 there was a serious outbreak at the back of Yuille Wilson's property near the O.T.dam. (See TREWIN in the dictionary history re Yuille Wilson, his wife, Bess and his twin daughters. See A Dreamtime of Dromana regarding the name of the dam.)
P.58. Karl Cleine was the captain in 1946. As they had no truck they used Bob Holmes' truck. Cr Keith Holmes was appointed Secretary (of a building committee? my notes not clear!)and a fire station was built on (redundant!) railway property in 1955. Bob Holmes resigned as Captain at the age of 70 in 1955 and Geoff Sandford took over. Following the death of Mr G.Laurissen, Alan Bowring was elected President. A team was entered in Regional demonstrations in 1958 with Ted Littlejohn, Russell Simpson and Kevin Holmes as Lieutenants.
SPORTS.
Annual picnics at Shoreham, concerts in the old school and Methodist church, and later socials in the Church of Christ or William Holmes' fruit shed, the school's bird day and visits to the "tunnel" between Simon's and Eaton's cuttings are discussed.

P.59. THE RIFLE CLUB. 1900, Pres. Mr McLear J.P. Some others involved were J.Shand (Capt.), H., J.W.and Joseph McIlroy, A.Head, Jonathon Davis, D.Mairs, Huntley and Simpson. The range was at McIlroy's Ranges paddock rather than Palmer's Point as first proposed. (David Mairs, who may have been a grantee of much land now part of Essendon Aerodrome was not a Red Hill resident but was the grantee of ----acres of land at-----. See the David Mairs journal about a probable marital link to the Huntleys. The Simpsons may have lived near the Mairs.)

P.60.HORSE RACING. The racecourse near Moat's Corner and Jonah Griffith's two horses that won everywhere.
FOOTBALL. Report of a Dromana v Red Hill match in which A McIlroy (B.O.G.), K.Cleine, R.Sheehan, G.Laurissen, R.Wilson, R.Trewin, Holmes and Prosser (sic) were the best players. The early jumper was like Joseph's coat of many colours. The club was (re)formed in 1929. (The same clubs had played on Red Hill's football ground circa 1891!)
In 1917-8, 6 acres of land was purchased from the Arkwells at 10 pounds per acre. (In his brief history W.J.Holmes called this "Arkwell's Bush" and said that Bob White had carried much cleared timber to Rosebud in his bullock dray to be sold as firewood.)The Red Hill Agricultural and Horticultural Society held their shows at Dromana before 1915. Reformed, with the same name, this body held its first show at the coolstore at Red Hill in 1922, the President being R.McIlroy and the secretary J.Holland. There was a break from 1939 due to the war and shows resumed in 1947 with W.Milburn Pres. and W.Kleehammer Sec. (I wonder if Mr Milburn was a descendant of Basket Davey Milburn of Keilor!)
CRICKET. The Kangerong club of 1899-1900 was mainly made up of Red Hill men.The first pitch in Red Hill was laid out on the property of Andrew Haig (to be detailed in my Dictionary History journal). With Russ Trewin as captain, Red Hill played their first game against Main Ridge on 27-1-1923. Red Hill joined the S.P.C.A. in 1923-4 and did moderately well. The next season Cecil Eeles was appointed captain-coach and led J.Holland, C.Beck, S.Maine, G.Hansford, E.Haig, K.Cleine, R.Edwards, B.Shearing, R.Siggers and Robbins to a premiership. By this season a pitch on the Rec.Res. was being used.
TENNIS was first played on "Wildwood" and later at the recreation ground.Miss Janet Wiseman and Andrew Haig were among the earliest players.

P.62. Photos of W.H.Blakeley's Crestmobile and Red Hill Tennis Club in the early 1920's.

P.63. Orchards and Gardens. In the Spring of 1862, the first of many apple trees, provided by the Government, were planted. Joseph McIlroy daubed trees with cow dung, possibly to cover saw wounds and cuts. (Much detail from an article called Around Red Hill in August 1902 has been provided in the Village Settlement journal and other orchards and gardens will be included in the Dictionary History journal.

P.65.The coolstore was started in December 1919 and finished in May 1920. The directorate was A.Haig, H.Prossor, S.Holland, F.Butler, W.Jarman, and J.Holland (Sec.)It was destroyed by fire in May, 1929. In 1920 a meeting was held to (re)form the Red Hill Agricultural and Horticultural Society and the Red Hill Fruitgrowers' Association.

P.66. Mr E.Bowring Snr was the manager,for two years,of the packing shed erected in 1927 just west of the first coolstore. Passiflora grew passionfruit near Moat's Corner in the 1930's. ( Colin McLear's A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA gives much detail about this company and the O.T. company, which Sheila also mentions.)

P.67. Ben Benson cut sleepers for the Geelong railway in 1857. At the turn of the century there were two saw mills (at Red Hill.)The earliest was established by William Holmes and Major Shaw had a mill opposite Lester's garage site for four years. (See Dictionary History journal re Major Shaw.) John Shand had a mill near Merricks and Chamber's Mill was at Main Ridge. (Chamber's Mill is mentioned in the Conservation Study.)

P.68. Photo of the(second) Red Hill coolstore in the 1930's.

P. 69. Nostalgic memories.

FINIS.

READ COMMENT 3 BEFORE STARTING!

Some surnames can be common in local history areas and often writers of municipal histories have made wrong assumptions. Near Essendon, Keilor and Broadmeadows there were three completely different families of Robertsons on Gowrie Park (Campbellfield), La Rose and Upper Keilor/Aberfeldie/Gladstone Park/Kensington/Ardmillan/Ascot Vale. Charlie Wilson, Mornington Shire's train driving President after whom the C.B.Wilson Reserve and possibly Wilson Rd were named was the child of a union between the Wilsons of Tuerong Park and an unrelated Mornington Wilson family.A Wilson was a signatory to a petition for a school at Moorooduc in the early 1860's and could have been from Tuerong OR Henry William "Wingy" Wilson, the Jamieson's Special Survey bullocky who founded the butchering empire. Not too far to the east was George Wilson of Balnarring parish! Just across Vineyard Lane from Tuerong Park lived Peter White, grandfather of the Female Drover, Shirley Bourne. I am fairly sure that Peter was not related to the Whites of whom I intend to write but you never know!

What I should really say is that the true answer will never be supplied by a local historian. The nitty gritty of sorting out whether neighbours with the same surname are related is only ever undertaken by FAMILY HISTORIANS!!! Deidre Farfor helped me sort out the various Robertsons. Now Pam Colvin has stepped up to the plate to help me tell you about two pioneers who settled (possibly near The Heads, meaning the Sorrento-Portsea area) at the same time as the Sullivan family, but have so far received little acknowledgement.

I will commence by telling you what has been recorded about this particular White family. The Rye Township 150th souvenir , which I recently read, does not seem to mention George White. But there again, it does not mention Antonio Albress either. The Cain, Rowley, Sullivan, Hill etc families receive good coverage as usual and a large excerpt from Patricia Appleford's history of Rye Primary School, the churches etc is included.

The main NEW information is a map showing Sidney Smith Crispo's original Canterbury Jetty. Too bad that new information supplied to the Historical Society did not accompany the plan. Canterbury was Crispo's second name for his proposed village; the first was Manners-Sutton. Sir John Manners-Sutton was the Governor in the 1860's and became Viscount Canterbury during his term of office.

It is LIME LAND LEISURE that supplies the most information about the Whites. I have used the index supplied after the book was published but this seems to have missed one reference which was probably in the DARK genealogical near the end. On Page 157, Charles Hollinshed had written about EDWARD under the WHITE genealogy
but the subject of his attention was Edward WILLIAMS. Edward was not related to the White family but the author's confusion was caused by the fact that Edward sold his old Sorrento Butcher shop to George White.

LIME LAND LEISURE.
Page 54. The produce of the White brothers' kinn (and others) may have gone up Canterbury Road.
Page 56. On the west end of a lime kilns map, No 13 is labelled B.Willard, later G.White and G.Sutton. It is located near the intersection of Mission St and Haven Ave (Melway 157 D12.)
Page 57. Rye area of the map. 2 and 2a are labelled White brothers. The first is on the east side of Canterbury St about a fifth of the way from Melbourne Rd to the beach, probably near the bend in Anelida St. The second was probably near the west side of the R.J.Rowley reserve and the reason that W.A.Blair purchased that area.
Page 60. An oldtimer's map of the township shows land owned at the east corner of Pt Nepean Rd and Dundas St labelled G.White. Details of this purchase from the Rye Township map will be given later.
Page 65. George and Robert White were limeburners.
Page 70. No reference; indexing error.
Page 157-8. (The last paragraph of 157 and page 158, apart from the reference to George White buying Edward Williams' old butcher shop, are entirely about Edward Williams.)
Billis and Kenyon name George and Robert White as pastoral pioneers in 1843-1850 and 1843 respectively. There may have been four White brothers, one of them Richard White. Captain Ferguson referred to George and Robert White in his report on the resumption of land near the heads for a quarantine station (in 1852.) Robert had paid a (lime) licence fee of twelve pounds in that year. (It would therefore seem that they were burning lime close to Portsea at that time. There would have been little activity near Rye at that time except for Owen Cain at Tyrone. However, it is possible that George and Robert were operating near the Mission St site indicated on page 56.)
Richard White, limeburner, married Eliza Taylor. They had two sons who left the district and six daughters including Georgiana, born 1861, who married Mr Meaden, father of Mrs Creswell who supplied this information.
(Richard has been found in early rate records but either died or also left the district soon after. The genealogy, to come, will determine which is correct.)
Richard's children were scared by Maoris so it is possible that Richard was living/working near the Rowley Reserve where a White brothers' kiln is shown as 2a on the page 57 map. As well as fishing the Maoris had a farm near the oval, which is recalled by Maori St.
Edward (i.e.Williams) sold his partly demolished butcher shop on the north corner of Hotham Rd and George St, an area known as Butchers' Hill, to George White.

RYE PRIMARY SCHOOL, Patricia Appleford.
Page 50-51. Arthur Dark, born 11-4-1924, worked for E.G.White of Sorrento who operated a daily service to Melbourne before the start of world war 2. As Arthur referred to himself as a "jockey" I presume the "service" involved carriage of goods. Arthur's workmates, in that job, were Len Hill, Percy Watson, Parley Blackwell, Alby Morgan and Jack White .
Page 139. Map showing White brothers' kilns 2 and 2a as in LIME LAND LEISURE.

ON THE ROAD TO ROSEBUD. Peter Wilson.
I recalled a chapter in Peter's book relating details of a Government plan in 1859 to build a fence from White Cliff to the back beach in order to enclose the police paddock between Rye and the Quarantine Station, and a petition opposing this plan. My notes on this chapter were not extensive but a trip to the library was very worthwhile.
As directories of the Rye/Heads area were non-existent at this time, I will record all of the signatories. As a report, mentioned later, states that there were only two landowners, [Peter Purves and James Ford), it can be assumed that all of the signatories (with the exception of Kenna and one other, whom I did not note,who were Melbourne residents) were limeburners, as stated in the report.
I will also use this opportunity to acknowledge a pioneer of Tootgarook who has been completely ignored. He was Peter Purves. Peter Wilson assumed that he was the son of James Purves, the architect but he was actually the brother of James.
James and Peter, a stone mason, spent time in Tasmania building bridges before settling at Tootgarook, whose name was bestowed by Peter. As Hobson had moved to Gippsland in 1843, giving one station the name of Traralgon from the local aboriginal terms (see my aboriginal vocabulary journal and the Hobson journal) but transferred Tootgarook to the Purves brothers in 1850 shortly after acquiring George Smith's Wooloowoollooboolook, it can be assumed that they had been managing it for Hobson, as speculated in LIME LAND LEISURE. It was Peter who signed the petition; James would have been in Melbourne, working as an architect or agent, or in England buying horses or at (Chinton?) Station east of Mt Macedon, with only the occasional visits to Tootgarook. Trove shows the extent of James Purves' involvement in Melbourne (as documented in my DROMANA, ROSEBUD AND MILES AROUND ON TROVE.)Incidentally Peter Wilson said that Hobson's "Rosebud" was uninsured when it was wrecked but architect Purves had insured it, probably having bought the vessel from Hobson. Peter died in 1860, just after the petition was presented, and the full time management of Tootgarook probably passed to his son, James, who had been reunited with his father for just eight years. (SOURCES: Trove, Memoirs of a Larrikan by Hec Hansen.)
George White Snr was an old neighbour of Peter Purves and James Ford, and signed the petition despite the fact that he really wanted the fence because he did not want to offend them .

THE 1859 PETITION.
At this time, there was no township of Rye, and according to LIME LAND LEISURE, the Rye Hotel was in Dromana! When the Township was declared in 1861, it was called Tootgarook, probably because it had been part of the Tootgarook run. John Campbell apparently had built a jetty in 1860 and this probably prompted lime burners to erect houses near the pier so they would be close to home when they brought the day's production for shipping. One house, occupied by John Berry, and later by the Sullivans when they moved from the Heads in 1852, is said to have been the first house in the township area. In 1869, almost all of the suburban blocks south of the cemeteryand west of Dundas St were bought by limeburners ( more truly lime merchants such as W.A Blair. It has not been definitely established whether Thomas Monahan was connected with the lime industry or just a land speculator.)
James Purves bought his square mile pre-emptive right between about Keith St and Government/Weeroona Rds on 22-10-1855. Ford's land was mainly near Portsea. The Wannbaeue parish map does not indicate when the Fords acquired Wannaeue Station bounded by Eastbourne Rd, Boneo Rd, Browns Rd and Jetty, Old Cape Schank Rd. O'Shannassy reported that Purves and Ford were the only landowners.

Many of the limeburners would have been illiterate. Their names would have been printed (by Peter Purves or James Sandle Ford) and followed by "their mark", usually a cross (X). The names on the petition opposing construction of the fence were: James Ford, Peter Purves, Robert Rainey, James Patterson, George Mitchell, Robert Quinan, George White, Robert White, Richard White, Jeremiah White , James Swan,
Arthur Robinson MATCD (presumably the other Melbourne resident), Alfred Evans, Nathan Page, John Dillon, Edward Russell, Patrick Sullivan, Edward M.Williams, Richard White, George White!, Isaac Prout, Owen Cain, Mrs John Devine, Ben Stennigan (Stenniken), Timothy Sullivan, Thomas Clancy, George Baker, Charles Dean, Mrs Edward Skelton, Samuel Clark, Samuel Williams, Richard Kenna (Melbourne resident!)

Snr Constable O'Shannassy was asked to ascertain why the settlers and limeburners had signed the petition. He found that Clark, Williams, Nathan Page, Mrs Skelton and Jeremiah White had not signed and weren't even asked to sign. George White senior and Robert Quinan, both limeburners, had signed, not wanting to offend their old neighbours,even though they actually wanted the fence. Thomas White and 15 other limeburners wanted the fence to prevent Ford and Purves overgrazing the area with their combined 800 head of cattle. They complained that their own bullocks (obviously used for ploughing and hauling lime)were dying from starvation.
Robert, George and Richard White, Ford, Purves, Cain, Stennigan (sic), and Patrick and Timothy Sullivan feared that their cattle woud be turned out of the area.

Acknowledging more ignored pioneers!
Nathan Page, who committed suicide, probably due to crippling pain, was the grantee of 34a Wannaeue of 38 acres 2 roods and 15 perches fronting the south side of Browns Rd and the east side of Spring Lane west of Truemans Rd. His neighbour on 34b to the south (wrongly called 103 acres when he was leasing it from the Crown, was George White. (More detail re George, Thomas and Robert White's landholdings will follow after the rates information. I will have to check if detail is given about the discovery of Nathan's body and witnesses at an inquiry.) James Patterson may have been connected to the Jamieson's Special Survey/ Patterson Rd, Fingal family. The Swans were grantees in Nepean parish and were involved in a court battle between Blair and Duffy regarding dummy bidders.John Dillon was one of the many limeburners who had jumped ship and, if I remember correctly, was cutting timber for Ben Stenniken at a very age.Edward Russell had been leasing land and obviously burning lime on land acquired by W.A.Blair but on 3-11-1880 received the grant for 38a Wannaeue of 103 acres on the west side of the present (2012) Truemans Rd tip. The Russells were related to the Cairns and Patterson families by marriage several times over. John Devine and Edward Skelton may have died by 1859. Many Portsea and Sorrento pioneer families are detailed in THOSE COURAGEOUS HARDY WOMEN and FAMILY CONNECTIONS:SORRENTO AND PORTSEA. The Stennikens were related to the butchering Wilson family, the Sherlocks of Green Island (near Mornington) and Frankston, and the Clemengers of Parkmore at Rosebud. They were granted land between James Trueman and the beach on the west side of Truemans Rd and land in and west of Rye Township. They supplied the limestone for the original C of E school in Rye, and with the Sullivans controlled the supply of ti tree for the ovens of Melbourne's bakers later on.The Stennikens, who had several ships, moved to Port Melbourne but maintained close connections with the Peninsula as the Clemenger marriage shows. Thomas Clancy received the grant for allotment 3 in what seems to be section 2 of Rye Township. This half acres block had frontages of 20 metres to Nelson and Collingwood Sts, commencing 40 metres west of Lyons St.George Mitchell, who was an early storekeeper and postmaster if my memory is correct, had an adjoining block with 200 link/2 chain (40 metre) frontages to Nelson and Lyons Sts. George Baker was the grantee of crown allotments 1,2,3 and 6 of section 7, Rye Township.Lots 1,2 and 3 extended 900 links (180 metres)east from Lyons St along the Esplanade or beach road and were 100 metres deep.Lot 6 was south of lots 1 and 2 with a Lyons St frontage of 80 metres and a depth of 120 metres.
POSTSCRIPT. While trying to pinpoint the location of 95 acres that George White was leasing from E.Ford in 1874, supposedly in the Nepean subdivision, I discovered a crown allotment granted to Thomas Clancy. It was 58 Nepean, consisting of 23 acres 2 roods and 18 perches and granted to Thomas in 1866. Thomas McRavey, a pioneer connected with the Dromana/Red Hill area received the grant for C.A. 59 on the east side of Hughes Rd and what is now Pt Nepean Rd. It ran east to a bend in the beach road which can still be seen at the McDougall St corner. Clancy's lot 58 ran east from there to a point which can be determined by extending the western boundary of the Stringer Rd Reserve to Pt Nepean Rd. The southern boundary of lots 59, 58 and C.Graham's lot 53 is indicated by extending the northern boundary of Stringer Rd Reserve. It is possible that Thomas Clancy was quarrying and burning lime on this land when he signed the petition in 1859. Another signatory was Robert Quinan. It is possible that he was the grantee of 54a, which is now the Stringer Rd Reserve. The parish map has the grantee of the 12 acres 1 rood and 28 perches as P.Quinlan, but given that Ben Stenniken was called Stennigain and Stenniker, it is possible that a faded R was rendered as P by a copyist and the surname is actually Quinan.

KANGERONG AND FLINDERS RATE RECORDS.
3-9-1864. Nepean subdivision. Richard White was assessed on a 3 roomed house and garden leased from Owen Cain, which had a nett annual value of 10 pounds. This could have been on Tyrone, which Owen was granted on 11-5-1860, land on the west side of the south end of Canterbury Jetty Rd granted to Owen on 21-7-1863, land on the north side of Melbourne Rd now occupied by streets named on a golf theme which adjoined Tyrone and was granted on 27-7-1863. The westernmost beachside suburban block of Rye Township, east of Cain St, was not granted to Owen until 1869.
If Richard was on the second plot of land, his neighbour across Canterbury Jetty Rd would have been a fellow signatory of the petition, James Swan, who received the grant for his 128.25 acre allotment 14 on 11-5-1860. Tyrone is indicated at the Canterbury Rd end by streets with ship names, contains maiden names of daughters in law (Murray, Neville), and Michael St (Owen's son), running east to the Cain St/Whitecliffs Lane midline.

George White was assessed on a 4 roomed house with a nett annual value of 10 pounds. The rate collector did not record the fact until 2-9-1865 but this was leased from the Crown.
In the Wannaeue subdivision, Robert White was assessed on a hut with a NAV of five pounds from the Cairns brothers. There is no doubt where this was. The Cairns brothers grant, known as Little Scotland, was bounded by Boneo Rd, Browns Rd and Old Cape Schanck Rd, extending 718 metres north of Browns Rd. It is likely that Robert was managing the kiln for Robert, David and Alexander Cairns.

2-9-1865. Details unchanged except that George's property is specified as being leased from the Crown and it was probably lots 7 and 8 granted to him less than a month earlier, with the rate collector not yet acquainted with this information. The NAV of the hut Robert is leasing from the Cairns brothers is now only 2 pounds 10 shillings.
1-9-1866. Roberts leased hut is described as having one room. George White is assessed on 2 acres of land (nett annual value 2 pounds.). This may have been Crown allotments 7 and 8 of section 3 Rye Township with a frontage of 100 metres to the east side of Dundas St and a frontage of 80 metres eastward on the Esplanade. But lots 7 and 8 comprised half an acre each. Therefore he had one acre, a fact that did not seem to filter through until the 5-9-1868 assessment. Lots 7 and 8 were granted on 10-8-1865 so the purchaser was probably George junior. The genealogy will provide the date of his father's death but it was in 1865 I think.
Richard White's name seems to have disappeared for good from the rate records.

7-9-1867.Robert is still at Little Scotland with details unchanged.George is assessed on a 2 roomed house and the NAV has risen to 10 pounds illustrating the relative value of a house compared to that of land at this time and for many more decades.

5-9-1868. Robert is still at Little Scotland and this seems to be his last year there. George is assessed on a 3 roomed house and one acre but the NAV is unchanged, which is strange.

4-9-1869. No assessment could be found for Robert. Details for George are unchanged.

3-9-1870.George-ditto. THOMAS WHITE was assessed on half an acre and a 2 roomed house near Dromana. At this stage of my research, I had not seen Pam's genealogy, but I jotted it down just in case he was related. He was!

2-9-1871. Ditto for George and Thomas.
6-9-1873. George was assessed on a house and [2] roomed house, now having a NAV of 12 pounds. (Thomas?-CHECK.)
Robert reappears, being assessed on one allotment, Rosebud, NAV 2 pounds. This was crown allotment 11 of the Rosebud Fishing Village which he purchased on 30-6-1873. Robert must have informed the rate collector fairly promptly! Allotment 11 is the second block on the foreshore east of the Rosebud jetty access road. It had a 90link (18 metre frontage and has a two story brick house on it, possibly built by Melbourne Lord Mayor, Edward Campbell. Was Robert trying a spot of fishing like most of the early purchasers in 1873? This one rood, seven and a half perches block was directly across the beach road from Crown Allotment 18 Wannaeue!

5-9-1874. Robert White was assessed on the Rosebud Fishing Village block again. George was assessed on his acre and house on the Dundas St corner but its NAV was back to 10 pounds. Had he appealed against the previous assessment? Immediately under this entry, in the NEPEAN SUBDIVISION George was assessed on 95 acres that he was leasing from E. Ford.It had the same NAV as George's acre and modest house!!! After spending two hours trying to determine which Ford grants(near Portsea!) would approximately total 95 acres and finding no such combination, I recalled seeing a Ford grant in Wannaeue Parish. Yep, there it was! Crown Allotment 26, Wannaeue of 95 acres 2 roods and 20 perches at the north east corner of Truemans and Limestone Rds, extending north to the bend at the bottom of Melway 252 F1. Its eastern boundary is that of the Eagle Ridge Golf Course. It was granted to Edward Ford on 17-4-1878 so the rate collector was incorrect in describing E.Ford as the owner. This must have been the land that George White was leasing because it is the only grant that Edward Ford received and as far as I can tell the only grant consisting of 95 acres. N.B. It was quite common for assessments for the likes of the Purves, Stennikens, Shands etc to be written in one subdivision when the land was actually in two of them.

2-10-1875. Robert White was assessed on the Rosebud Fishing Village block and 152 acres Wannaeue . George was assessed on his house on the acre block at the east corner of Dundas St in Rye.

15-9-1876. For the first time,entries have been put into one previously blank column, OCCUPATION! Assessments for Robert (farmer) and George (bootmaker) remain unchanged.

14-9-1877. Robert White is still assessed on the half acre foreshore block and 152 acres but is now described as a labourer. George White is still a bootmaker but may have had his block on the Dundas St corner sequestered;Pam told me that he became insolvent. He is leasing 103 acres, Wannaeue, from the crown, an errant description of 34B of 105 acres 2 roods and 25 perches. (I wonder how soon this was corrected!) This land fronted the west side of Spring Lane from a point 264 metres south of Browns Rd(the boundary with Nathan Page's land) for another 814 metres to a dogleg to the left.The northern boundary was 512 metres and the south boundary only a bit more than 500 metres because the eastern boundary headed slightly east of south to the said bend.

27-7-1878. The brothers are now in the West Riding and George is in the Tootgarook Electoral Division. He is still described as a bootmaker leasing 103 acres from the Crown. Things are happening at Rosebud! Robert White SENIOR has the foreshore block and Robert White JUNIOR has the 152 acres. Both George and Robert SENIOR are described as bootmakers. Robert JUNIOR is a farmer. On 24-7-1879, details were the same except that Robert Jnr preferred yoeman to farmer but reverted to the former term by the assessment of 31-7-1880, with all other details unchanged.

30-7-1881. George, a bootmaker is leasing his 103 acres from the Crown and renting Robert White's fishing Village block. The occupant of the 152 acres is Robert White, presumably still junior.

What do you mean by "it's about time you told us where the 152 acre block is!!!" It won't be long.

21-7-1883. Thomas reappears! He has obviously bought the Rosebud Fishing Village block granted to Robert White.His occupation is given as Cutler. Details are the same re the 103 and 152 acres.
The 152 acre, soon to become 150 acre, property was crown allotment Wannaeue, bounded by Pt Nepean Rd, Jetty Rd, Hove Rd and Adams Ave. This farm, in later times in the chapter of Peter Wilson's ON THE ROAD TO ROSEBUD entitled HENRY POTTON'S FARM. I have a theory that Robert White built the original homestead and that it has been extended, remaining as Wahgunyah at 19 Mitchell St. The 2 acre block about to be sold was actually sold much earlier and may have even had a hotel built on it.
The following comes from a document in the scrapbook of Harvey Marshall, a descendant of Captain Henry Everest Adams. In August, 1878 gave William Edwards, farmer, of Dromana, a loan of 128 pounds and nine shillings to be repaid with interest on 30-6-1880. Edwards mortgaged lot 86 of section 18a (crown allotment 18 of section A). This was obviously the two acres on which Jack Jones built his store, which he was operating in 1900 and 1910,on the corner now occupied by FJ's, as the rest of crown allotment remained intact as 150 acres. At the time of the loan, the two acre block probably had a nett annual value of two pounds, so I have speculated that Edwards had built, or was building upon the block, the mysterious Schnapper Point Hotel ON THE ROAD TO DROMANA that Edwards was operating in 1888.(Victoria and Its Metropolis.)Whether he did or not, it is obvious that lot 86 had been sold before August 1878, not after the assessment of 21-7-1883.
I took my daughter to the medical clinic at 19 Mitchell St and noticed the old building which I had never seen before.This was the start of my campaign to gain heritage protection for Rosebud's historic houses, culminating in a heritage overlay for the Boyd cottage at 62 Rosebud Pde.I commenced an investigation of rate records in an effort to establish when the house was built, the house that De Garis called Wagunyah in his suicide note.
In the early 1870's the grantee, Warren, seems to have sold crown allotment 18 to Blakely (whose name appears on the Edwards-Adams loan document) but the rate collector wasn't really sure.The 6-9-1873 assessment FAINTLY indicates that Blakely leased it to John Twycross. The lease seems to have continued another year as the 5-9-1874 assessment has John Twycross written confidently as the occupier. No doubt the owner column was blank!

From the assessment of 2-10-1875 to that of 16-7-1888, Robert White was assessed on crown allotment 18. The next year Frederick and William Leak probably had the remaining 150 acres.Then Robert White had the property again in the assessments of 19-7-1890 and 18-7-1891. By 1893, Thomas Bamford, a woolclasser owned the property. Further details are available in the HENRY POTTON'S FARM chapter of ON THE ROAD TO ROSEBUD.
As mentioned previously the value of a modest house was far greater than large parcels of land, so any dramatic increase in the nett annual value would indicate construction or enlargement of a homestead. The N.A.V. was 10 pounds in Robert's first assessment in 1875, rose to 15 pounds, to 20 pounds in 1886 and 25 pounds in 1888. As 1888 was the zenith of the land boom and this could be assumed to be the cause of the last increase but the fact that the N.A.V.remained unchanged during the 1890's depression and the slow recovery in the following decade shows that a substantial house caused the increase. In 1905-6, Mrs Bamford must have enlarged or replaced the homestead as the NAV increased to 40 pounds. An architect would probably be needed to determine whether Wahgunyah was an extension of the homestead built by Robert White in 1878 and possibly improved in 1885 and 1887.



FINISH RATES.
GENEALOGY.
The following information has been compiled by Pam Colvin.
I'VE BEEN TRYING TO COPY AND PASTE GENERATIONS 1-3 BUT IT SAYS THERE'S AN INTERNAL ERROR COPYING ONTO THE CLIPBOARD! HELP!!

TWO OLD SORRENTO FAMILIES.
Ernest George White (born 1891 Pt Nepean, died 1942 Toorak) married Bertha Jane Wells (b. 28-6-1891, d. 1980 Rosebud)at St John's C. of E., Sorrento on 30-10-1918. Ernest was 28 and Bertha was 27. She had been living at 2 Lennox St, Richmond. It is almost certain that the groom was E.G.White for whom Arthur Dark acted as "Jockey" in the carrier service to Melbourne. It is by no means indisputable that Bertha was a descendant of Henry Cadby Wells but there are fair indications that she was.
"But Henry Cadby Wells was a pioneer of Frankston!" you might say. You are right of course. But he was one of the earliest pioneers of the Sorrento area. His wife gave birth to the first white child, of permanent settlers, at The Heads. Why was he there? He and "his old shipmate" Robert Rowley spent two years limeburning together until about 1843. When demand dropped off because of the depression, Henry returned to Richmond to resume his trade of bootmaker. He must have done well because he had had bought a boat by 1849 and returned to the Peninsula to crayfish with Robert Rowley. This was a very successful venture and in about 1850, Henry built the first limestone cottage in Sorrento, according to Jennifer Nixon in "Family, Connections, Sorrento and Portsea". Other builders have been suggested but Jennifer, a descendant of the pioneering Skelton family, gives the credit to a Mr Wells. This cottage became the home of "Lugger Jack" Clark, who built the Mornington Hotel next to it. "Clark's Cottage", as it became known, was demolished when the hotel was extended as the Koonya.
H.C.Wells' second venture with Robert Rowley was doomed however. They were probably at sea for days at a time and, eager to visit loved ones, they anchored the vessel in Westernport. When they returned, they discovered that the huge tidal variation had caused the boat to come down on the anchor, damaging it beyond repair. Henry had one more piece of bad luck before settling on Frankston as the place to be. He rented land south of Boundary Road (Canadian Bay Rd) at Mt Eliza from the grantee, J.T.Smith of Ascot House (Fenton St, Ascot Vale) but his vineyards probably met the same fate as most others in the state. (Google "The Wells Story".)







CHARLES GRAVES.
A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA Colin McLear.
Pages 33-5. "In the 1850's young George McLear rode a horse to Davey's (near Davey's Bay or perhaps in Frankston) there to leave it as a fresh horse for the wagon of Charles Graves, when the latter was returning from Melbourne, where he had gone for supplies for for his hawker's business which then served the southern peninsula. George's mother, Mary Ann, was in partnership with Graves in this business and on this occasion George's older brother, William had accompanied Graves." (George ran home rather than wait overnight in the flea-ridden Davey place.)Charles Graves became a tenant of Jamieson's Special Survey (Safety Beach area east to Bulldog Creek Rd) in 1851 or shortly afterward.
Page 80. In 1865, George McLear paid Graves 12 shillings and sixpence for a pair of trousers for his employee, John Singleton.
Page 91. Charles Graves owned Maryfield before selling it to Mary Ann McLear in February 1860. he established a store at Shoreham.
page 98. Mary Ann went into partnership with a Charles Graves in a drapery business. Charles travelled the district with his wares in a horse and wagon. The McLear boys accompanied him at times. Of the Cairns, newly arrived at Boneo from Scotland in 1854 (Robert 1852), George remembered from a visit with Graves in his travels, a whole flock of snowy haired children. One lad was labouring to crack a whip and announced to the visitors in his best accent, " Ae cunnae crruck a wee whup yet." (The Cairns brothers were at Little Scotland and so was Robert White by 1864!)

Page 99. Allotment 13, section 2, parish of Kangerong was granted to Thomas Monahan, (who with Blair bought most of the suburban blocks in Rye Township)on 19-11-1856. On May 10, 1859 the 166 acres 2 roods 17 perches was transferred to Charles Graves for 168 pounds 5 shillings, a profit of only one pound seven shillings and tenpence for Monahan. Charles had the property fenced by Thomas and Charles Rhymer (who are recalled by a Safety Beach street name) and sold it to his business partner, Mary Ann McLear, for 200 pounds on 31-1-1860. The property which the widow, Mary Ann, proudly named Maryfield commences 400 metres east of Collins Rd and extends the same distance east to a point just past Sheepwash Creek.

Page 132.Charles Graves was one of the 23 residents who supported the application to make Robert Dublin Quinan's private school a common school. Quinan's daughter, Emily Caroline, married James, the son of the ignored Tootgarook pioneer, Peter Purves, on 15-6-1862. (TROVE, MEMOIRS OF A LARRIKIN.) This Robert Quinan had land in Dromana Township and supplemented his income by balancing the .Kangerong Road Board's finances. Once he had a discrepancy of 5 pounds, and unable to obtain a loan from Richard Watkin, owner of the Dromana Hotel, in order to remedy the situation, he committed suicide.(A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA page 131.)
It is not known whether he was the signatory to the 1859 petition.


ALONG THE BACK TRACK C 1860
Charles Graves ( back from Melbourne with goods
To hawk to those further west near she-oak woods)
With Bill, the son of his partner, widow McLear,
Left Bill at �The Willow�. His helper now, Godfrey, in his tenth year.

The son of Henry �Wingy� Wilson who had a bung hand,
A bullocky living near the east end of �Survey� land.
To the north, over Yankee Griffith�s maize, Charles saw
Big Clarke�s wedding present to his son-in law.

To the left, young Godfrey saw Cottier�s hut coming nigh,
Now housing a hotel which �Cutter� called the Rye.
�Look,� said Charles, �Pidota and Rowley do it tough:�
�The bay at the moment is looking quite rough!�

When they reached The Rocks, Graves headed back
To climb Arthurs Seat on the Cape Schanck track.
�We�ll never get through that surf alive,
And I�ll not wait asleep like Meyrick in 1845.�

As they climbed with Gracefield on their left
Charles exclaimed, �There is a vine up in the cleft!�
�Do you mean the Swamp Village�s Fred the Greek?�
Young Wilson asked with tongue in cheek.

So they climbed through Burrell�s 12 500 acres,
Dragging logs on downhill slopes as brakers,
Past the back road to Purves� Tootgarook;
Soon Cairns on their right, and Wooloowoolooboolook.

At the next crossroad, right turn and then left;
Charles� handling of his drapery-laden wagon was deft.
Godfrey saw smoke, sobbed,�Cometh my time!�
�Don�t panic lad; they�re burning the lime.�

We started in Kangerong;
Through Wannaeue travelled along,
Some features and people of history seein�,
And now we�ll stop as we reach Nepean.

As they turned back towards Kangerong,
A well-known man came riding strong,
(With five year old Maria) running late.
Godfrey married Maria in 1878.

NOTES FOR "ALONG THE BACK TRACK".
Verse 2. Big Clarke gave his son in law, a member of the Bruce family, the northern 1000 acres of the Survey, hence Bruce Rd.
Verse 3. Cottier, who pronounced his name as Cutter, had a "Rye Hotel" licence for his house in Dromana in 1859. He soon after transferred the name and licence to a hotel that he and another former Dromana resident, John Campbell, built on two adjacent blocks granted to Campbell between Lyons and Napier Streets.The name of the hotel became the name of the town. The present Rye Hotel was built in 1927 by Mrs Hunt who demolished the Gracefield Hotel. (Sources;LIME, LAND LEISURE, RYE TOWNSHIP MAP. Hollinshed gave the licencee's name as James Cottier.)
Verse 4. Oldtimers called Anthony's Nose "the rocks". Drays would wait for low tide and skirt the nose on the sand, which Maurice Meyrick is documented as having done on the way to the Boniyong Run, having a snooze while he waited. Cape Schanck Rd is now largely named Bayview Rd. It was called the back road, back track and in the early 1900's the Hobson's Flat Road. Robert Cairns, who lived on this road, was known as Back Road Bob.
Verse 5. William Grace had orchards and a vineyard on Gracefield. The Gracefield Hotel was built on his grant in Rye by his son in law. Rosebud's Fred Vine was well known to the fishermen in Dromana too. (Photos in Colin's book.)
Verse 6. The Burrells purchased Arthurs Seat Station in 1851. The homestead was built by Andrew McCrae with much help from Henry Tuck. Many readers would be staggered by the idea of a bullocky daring to risk having this dray bogged as he skirted Anthony's Nose on the beach. But that sand was packed hard by the weight of the water at high tide. All the roads shown as government roads on parish maps were far worse. The sand was loose and only those who have tried to wheel a pram of the beach would know what that is like. Jetty, Eastbourne and Truemans Rds were like that for the first half of the 20th century. However, they were not so bad for travellers on horseback. Hiscock Rd originally went from the Jetty, Cape Schanck/Grasslands Rd intersectionto Truemans Rd and was probably followed (alongside the Drum Drum Alloc Creek) by James Purves, the Architect, as he made his way to Tootgarook on his retreats from the high life in Melbourne.
In describing the discovery of Owen Cain's 4 year old daughter, young McCrae described George Smith's homestead as being six miles toward Cape Schanck from the McCrae Homestead. This would place it near Patterson Rd in Fingal. However I believe the location of Wooloowoolooboolook is indicated by the Purves grants along Boneo Rd, north of Little Scotland. Thus LEFT has been changed in the poem to AND.
Verse 7. The turn to the right and turn to the left are still done at Truemans Rd as you head west on Browns Rd, now with the safety of roundabouts.
Verse 8. Kangerong, Wannaeue and Nepean are parishes.
Verse 9. The well-known man was Ben Stenniken who leased land on Jamieson's Special Survey near young Godfrey's home, as well as owning beachside land on the west corner of Truemans Rd and near Rye. His daughter probably stayed at the property when she was working as a servant at the Bruce house during "the season!"


Charles Graves' properties (Rate Records.)


GRAVES GRAVES AT FLINDERS CEMETERY.



MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE OF ROBERT WHITE OF ROSEBUD.
In the Colony of Victoria
on the 26th July 1877 at Mornington
Robert White
Residence - Rosebud
Age - 27
Profession - Farmer
Birth Place - Perth Shire Scotland
Father - Robert White - Shoemaker
Mother - Elizabeth Russell

Spouse
Margaret Hillis
Residence - Wannaeue
Age - 25
Birth Place - Antrim Ireland
Father - Hill Hillis
Mother - Sarah McKeowan

Robert's father's occupation was recorded as farmer and his father's as shoemaker exactly as in the ratebook for 1877 (above.) Therefore this Robert (the groom) definitely owned crown allotment 18, Wannaeue, of 152 acres, (actually 150 because Charles Blakly had sold lot 86 of two acres.) It seems that the groom had been born in Scotland in about 1850, so he was not a son of the lime-burning White brothers of the 1840's.

According to Colin McLear on page 86 of A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA, Mary, the sister of James McKeown had married Hill Hillas in Ireland in 1846 and they had come to Red Hill in 1855 to take up farming. As Colin McLear's informants were probably using memory rather than documents, it seems that Hill's wife was Sarah rather than Mary. Margaret certainly lived in (the parish of)Wannaeue. (See below.)

On page 88, Colin states that the name Hill Hillis appeared in George McLear's account book in 1864; his name appeared often as a supplier of posts, rails and piles for piers. Hillis owned 213 acres on Main Ridge Rd (he meant Main Creek Rd.)

Whether Hill was William or William was his son, the land was granted to William Hillis in 1885 and 1888. This land was south of the east-west section of Whites Rd. Crown allotment 23A of 59 acres 3 roods and 34 perches was accessed by Wilson Rd at its south west corner and went halfway to Whites Rd, while the adjoining 23B, of 153 acres and 36 perches, fronted Whites Rd and Main Creek Rd; the Arthurs Seat/ Main Ridge border shows the south boundary of both allotments.

Earlier on, William Hillis had been Red Hill's first butcher. He operated from near the south corner of White Hill and McIlroys Rds so it is not surprising that William John McIlroy married Elizabeth Hillis and his younger brother, Joseph, married Sarah Hillis. Joseph McIlroy's diary of Wednesday, 20-9-1877 mentions his marriage in Dromana at 12:30 and a celebration at his father's place afterwards, at which the guests were Mr and Mrs McIlroy and family, Mr and Mrs J.Simpson and family, Mr and Mrs Cleine, Mr and Mrs White Jnr. ,Mr and Mrs Ault, Miss Hopcraft, Miss Kemp and Mr and Mrs Hillis. (The Red Hill pages 14,17.)Joseph Simpson of "Bayview", 89A Balnarring east of Baynes St, had married a McIlroy girl (see PIONEERS PATHWAY journal)as had Charles Cleine, Miss Hopcraft lived near Hillis's "Summer Hill" as did Henry Ault. It is possible that Miss Hopcraft and Miss Kemp were stepping our with someone from the Hillis or McIlroy families. As can be seen above Robert White Jnr. and Margaret Hillis had tied the knot less than two months earlier.

Extract from my DICTIONARY HISTORY OF RED HILL journal.
GOODBYE OLD FRIENDS. (Mornington Standard 19-9-1895 page 2.) A large crowd attended the funeral of Mr Hillis, an old resident of Red Hill. Mr C.Roberts of Main Creek, another old resident, also died recently.
William Hillis (referred to by Colin McLear as "Hill" which was possibly his nickname) whose surname was often written as Hillas, had "Summer Hill" at Main Creek north of Wilsons Rd and land adjacent to Henry Dunn's "Four Winds" on the top of White Hill near the McIlroys Rd corner. (The Butcher, The Baker, The.)

As the last available rate book is that of 1919-20, I do not know whether Robert White Jnr had land on Whites Rd. However Hec Hanson says in MEMOIRS OF A LARRIKIN that George White was just up the hill from his uncle, Jim Wilson's "Fernlea" (probably 23A, accessed via Wilsons Rd), so George certainly did.

These are the White properties in 1919-20. Jim Wilson seems to have had 163 acres of the Hillis grants. Crown allotment 28A was directly over Main Creek Rd from Hillis's grant 23B, with Whites Rd leading to its north western corner. It consisted of 158 acres 2 roods and 7 perches and had been divided into three portions of 53 acres.Crown allotment 22B fronted the west side of Main Creek Rd from the Arthurs Seat/Main Ridge boundary to the southern boundary of the entry to No. 284 (Melway 171 K8.)

Now, do these names occur in the family tree?

Ernest V.White had a third of 28A and and 30 acres of 22B. Robert, Robert G. and Albert C.White were jointly assessed on two thirds of 28A and 160 acres and buildings 27A1. This 160 acre block was on the east side of Main Creek Rd, south of 28A and across the road from 22B.

CONCLUSIONS.
Robert White of 18 Wannaeue (between Adams Ave and Jetty Rd at Rosebud)moved to the area near Whites Rd. He was not related directly to the limeburning Whites of the 1840's, represented in 1900 by William White on 36 acres of George White's grant of over 105 acres (Melway 168 K12.)

Edward Williams of "Eastbourne" had spent some time at Canterbury (probably on S.S.Crispo's grant on the west side of Canterbury Jetty Rd ) before buying his grants straddling Browns Rd just east of Truemans Rd. He used this land to supply his butcher shop in Sorrento so he would have known the lime burning Whites well. It was not until just before 1900 that Edward moved to Eastbourne, by which time Robert White Jnr was near Red Hill so Edward would have not become acquainted with him in Rosebud. Therefore I believe that the Robert White, who with Edward Williams moved the old lighthouse to the Arthur's Seat summit, was Bob White of Main Ridge.

Due to the death of my computer and the reconstruction of this left-hander's left shoulder, my return to action depends on my right index finger and the availability of my wife's laptop. I'd like to thank my FTC well-wishers and inform them that both operations went well.
I feel guilty that so many of my journals have been started and not completed. My first task is to complete the BETHELLS OF BROADMEADOWS AND BULLA journal.

Alistair Rosie makes repeated references to John Pascoe Fawkner being an early squatter in the Pascoe Vale area. His "run" was supposed to have been named Belle Vue Park. He certainly owned Belle Vue Park, having purchased it in 1839 but after a total of twenty hours trying to confirm or dispel this claim, including two hours this morning, I am no closer to a solution. There is no mention of depasturing licences in Port Phillip District in 1838 on trove and the only other connection I have found between Fawkner and squatting (except for his strident opposition to squatters)will be detailed later.

This morning's search was in vain but, as usual, turned up some interesting information. A website about St Kilda explained the origins of two names associated with the former shire of Broadmeadows. The aboriginal name for the St Kilda area was Yuroe Yuroke which described grinding stones found at the base of the red sandstone cliffs. Walert-gurn was the term for possum skin rugs. These were Boon-wurrung words, this clan occupying Melbourne's coastal area to Werribee as well as the Mornington Peninsula etc. I believe that Wollert (as well as Yuroke) was a parish name. Another website described how squatters erected bells on large poles and would ring them if their stations were attacked by aborigines. The bell would alert neighbours (living 10 or more miles away) to danger and also summon help. This would probably explain the name of Bell Post Hill in Geelong.

One criticism of J.P.Fawkner was that he was a hypocrite. Although his land purchases at Pascoeville and central Coburg (Jika Jika), Box Forest (Will Will Rook), sections 7, 10 and 13 (Tullamarine) and 22C (Doutta Galla) and perhaps others, were intended to provide his beloved yoeman farmers with the opportunity to obtain freeholds, he had actually been a squatter himself before the crash of 1843. Richard Broome's "Between Two Creeks", a history of Coburg, provides the information that Fawkner's Run was called Moonjettee (or something similar; I am relying on a 20 year old recall)from which the name of Monegeetta is derived.

To my knowledge, no depasturing licences were issued for the Port Phillip District before Fawkner bought Belle Vue Park but Fawkner may have squatted there illegally. I would much appreciate it if anyone can provide evidence of squatting licences being issued before 1939 or Fawkner actually occupying land at Pascoe Vale before he bought it. Just an afterthought, Governor Bourke visited John Aitken at Mt Aitken, west of Sunbury, so perhaps licences had been issued before 1839. However as he had instructed Robert Hoddle to survey from Batman's Hill (Spencer St Station site)along the moonee moonee chain of ponds very early, to enable sale of land in Jika Jika and Doutta Galla, it is unlikely that the Governor would have approved of squatting in those parishes.

On Saturday, 24-3-2012, I attended an open day at Harricks Cottage at Keilor. The invitation to attend had come after I had sent a request to the society for information about Bridget Madden of the Inverness Hotel who had been mentioned in Angela Evans' "Keilor Pioneers: Dead Men do tell Tales."

Harricks Cottage is a tribute to the leadership of Susan Jennison O.A.M., who has been President of Keilor Historical Society since 1990. This body was formed/reformed in 1989 and yours truly was elected as the foundation President. I was a researcher, not a meeting person, probably as a result of my brief tenure as a Keilor Councillor in 1974-5 which ended as a result of five other councillors and myself requesting Alan Hunt, Minister for Local Government, to sack the council. The Society meetings were an interruption to my research time and I must confess that I was a shocking leader. It was fortunate for the society that Susan Jennison took over.

Harrick's Cottage now sits amid a sea of huge industial estate buildings but as Susan managed to secure a large area of land, some sense of earlier tranquility remains. It is one of the few examples of ordinary early homesteads remaining anywhere near Melbourne. Unfortunately it is too small to be used as a museum but school groups often inspect the cottage as part of history excursions which include the history boards.

Harrick's Cottage is just one of the many projects achieved under Susan's leadership. The many history boards in the area recall much of its heritage, a lot of which had disappeared over the years. Susan managed to gain financial support from sponsors and Government bodies to preserve and recall the area's heritage. Much valuable research has been done by Joan Carstairs (St Albans Historical Society) and the Keilor Historical Society's first newsletter editor, Chris Lascowski.

I had the pleasure of meeting Dorothy Minkoff at the Open Day. She and Susan had curated the Law Enforcement During The Goldrush exhibition, the subject of the Open Day. It was the first time I had spoken to her since she had lent me a copy of her history of Ave Maria College in West Essendon. Apparently I had supplied her with some of my history, to which she said that she had often referred.

The reason that I undertook the trip up from Rosebud was twofold. I wanted to see the cottage which was a derelict wreck circa 1990 when I drove up Harricks Rd and came across Bernie McSweeney who told me about David Thompson and early aviators practising touch downs in the paddocks nearby. I also took a USB stick containing all my files (probably 4000 pages)relevant to the Keilor area. Christine Love, the Secretary (who lives at Melton and has no past association with Keilor but has a love of local history!) returned the favour with a couple of publications and a CD of Keilor Historical Society newsletters.

This CD is available from the society. I intend to write a series of journals containing and expanding on information in some of the newsletters. Each of the journals will have a surname list. This journal will consist of the subjects mentioned in each newsletter on the CD.

KEILOR HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTERS.
JUNE 1990. Caroline Chisholm, 1868 Postal Directory, history panel project, site fixed for Keilor Village.

JULY 1990. The Keane murder, Keilor Cemetery original trustees and first burial, the Pastor's Prayer (possibly concerning the Harricks.)

AUGUST 1990. Concert in 1888, Mrs Jane Goudie's Keilor Hotel, the Keane murder, 19th century hygiene.
SEPTEMBER 1990. Fire (Rootsey, Toohey), coaches 1855,Keane murder, Victorian Gazeteer 1865 (description of Keilor), the Racecourse Hotel.

OCTOBER 1990. The Keane murder, shooting accident (Moak), Keilor notes Feb.1889, Caroline Chisholm shelter sheds.

NOVEMBER 1990.Plans to build replica of Chisholm shelter shed on original site, nine members of Yates family attend dance and they will help to clarify history of the Racecourse Hotel, history panels cost $2400 each and eight have been sponsored so far, Keane murder, (Victorian) Centenary tree planting by Keilor Shire 1934, sale of North Pole Inn (( west cnr Milleara Rd!)1859, rations 1855, Mrs Corcoran's store 1889, Keilor Police Station 1853-1873.

FEBRUARY 1991. Description of Keilor in 1888 (Irrigation etc; his "friend" was David Yates.) Cahill was on Gumm's Corner (later Borrells') and Goudie on Keilor Binn Farm, later renamed Brimbank by his daughter, Mrs Dodd.

MARCH 1991. Essendon Gazette advertisements 1891 (Anglers' Hotel, Maribyrnong; McGrath's racecourse Hotel and royal mail, Dodd's dairy in St James St, Moonee Ponds; E.Hassed storekeeper and butcher), opening of the Arundel bridge, 1863 Road Board minutes, the Mansfield drowning. Two points of interest are that the Dodds had renamed Oakley Park as The Oaks and that the Mansfields would have been crossing the Arundel bridge rather than Bertrams Ford if the partly built bridge had not been swept away by the huge 1906 flood, ruining the original contractor.

APRIL/MAY 1991. St Augustine's, Keilor. The original trustee was Owen Connor, not O'Connor.He received the grants to most of the suburban allotments that made up Keilor Binn Farm (the part of Brimbank Park north of the e-w transmission line.)Owen Connor and Patrick Phelan were spirit merchants who lost heavily in land speculation. Patrick was tossed off Spring Park but had shrewdly put another block into a trust for his daughter who married William Connor if my memory is correct. Owen lost Keilor Binn Farm to Hugh Glass (from whom Goudie probably bought it) and returned to Ireland but William and Sarah Connor resided at Franklyn Farm until they died. The farm's name was strange given that it derived from Henry Eldridge's Sir John Franklin Hotel which stood at the east corner of Collinson St (Survey map and titles information.) One of the most entertaining pieces of history that I have ever read is a letter from Owen Connor (in Ireland) that is reproduced in Angela Evans' KEILOR PIONEERS:DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES. The spelling of the words is exactly as he would have pronounced them, I tink!

JUNE 1991. Oliver-Seuling wedding with a list of guests and their presents.It is possible that the bridesgroom was from the east riding of the shire of Melton (west of Sydenham)where Oliver and Bubeck families lived. Vera Bubeck was a bridesmaid and cousin of the bride. There was quite a German vigneron presence near Vineyard Rd west of Sunbury in early days. The Seulings were also related through marriage to the Dodds.

JULY 1991. Keilor Road (Sydenham) history and 1868 residents, the robbery at Crawford Harvie's Union Hotel there.

AUGUST 1991. A short history of Keilor found in the ashes of Elsie Ross's home. The history is quite accurate but some corrections or clarifications are needed. Sheep farming was certainly the specialty on Taylor's Overnewton but the McNabs were breeders of prize Ayrshire cattle and dairy farmers. They may have engaged in sheep farming on their closer settlement block between the Calder Highway and the river where Oakbank Rd is located.The original Church of England and school fronted the south side of Mt Alexander Rd between Bonfield St and the river.
The school was later relocated further up Bonfield St and then onto David Yate's racecourse. A new church was built in Church St (present heritage site) circa 1877.
As shown in the first issue of the newsletter Keilor was proclaimed a township in 1850, this being the reason for the Centenary Celebrations of 1950. There was no council before the formation of the Roads Board in 1863,recalled by another celebration and souvenir in 1963.(The third celebration and souvenir, in 1961, was in regard to the proclamation of the City of Keilor.)
The destruction of Elsie's home is in a later issue if my memory is correct.

SEPTEMBER 1991. Electricity comes to Keilor 1935, suggestion of night council meetings causes mirth in 1928, McNab, Grant, Cahill, Delahey, Milburn biographies from Victoria and Its Metropolis.

OCTOBER 1991. The Robertson family. The page of scribbled notes headed Spring Park came, without doubt, from Deidre Farfor, a descendant of James Robertson who provided much information to me about the often confused Robertson families that are the subject of one of my journals. James Collier, who is mentioned, bought the northern part of the Niddrie Quarry site on section 12 Doutta Galla (Main's Estate.) Although I did not intend to include much detail in this journal, I will paste details from EARLY LANDOWNERS: PARISH OF DOUTTA GALLA here.
LOT 12? COLLIER?S FARM.
James Collier bought the remaining 45* acres 2 roods 3 perches from the Bears on 14-2-1849 for 87 pounds cash. (*Called 55 acres in the Bear index but the memorial, which must have been written with poor quality ink, does say forty five.) I?d be willing to bet my last dollar that this was lot 12. It was north of Cox?s land and covered the rest of the quarry site (to a latitude indicated by the northern boundary of the Peter Kirchner Reserve east of the creek). Collier?s index reveals that he also had land on 6C (bisected by Puckle St/Holmes Rd). Another memorial concerns 39 acres in Doutta Galla (perhaps the land on 6C). Other memorials are:
K 750. 14-10-1850. Equitable Mortgage of 45 acres 2 roods 3 perches commencing 67 chains from the s/w corner of section 12 and extending 1406 links to the northern boundary of section 12. Charles Payne paid 35 pounds to James Collier.
236 954. 27-8-1860. Equitable Mortgage of the same land to secure to Margaret Harriss the repayment of 160 pounds she had lent to James Collier. I have been unable to determine whether Collier was able to repay the money or forfeited the land. However, this mortgage has helped to locate a farm mentioned by Angela Evans in ?Keilor Pioneers: Dead Men Do Tell Tales?. Lawrence Kelly seems to have settled in Keilor by 1861. (Keilor?s ratebook of 1868 shows that he was leasing 18C of 163 acres from J.P.Bear.) By 1875, according to the above book, he was also renting 48 acres at Spring Gully from Margaret Harris. This would seem to indicate that Collier did lose his block if Margaret Harris still had ownership 15 years later.
The acreage of Collier?s Farm does seem to have been 45 83/160 acres. It is likely that Patrick Joseph Corcoran was leasing it in 1900-1 (part lot 0 section 12, 46 acres). Collier?s Farm was described as 46 acres when the late Alexander Smith?s land west of Spring Gully was advertised for sale on 13-3-1916.
N.B. The entry for Collier?s Farm in ?Sam Merrifield?s House Names Index? edited by Lenore Frost, is wrong. The farm described is actually Smith?s Norwood. (See section 9.)
376 185. James Collier?s will of 26-1-1866 left all his (unspecified) estate to his daughter Mary, subject to an annual payment to James Collier?s wife Margaret. James died on 15-12-1868. These details were recorded much later on 13-8-1892 (376 185) and Mary was Mrs Amiss. The arrangements resulted from a marriage settlement between Mary and John Haines Amiss (soon to marry Mary) and the executors, James Jenning and John Cunningham, on 28-7-1879.
Practically every farm from Sharps Rd to the Maribyrnong River, south of Buckley St, had Spring in its name. The Fosters called their property between Sharps Rd and Spence St "Springs", Phelan had Spring Park and Springfield adjoined it on the west side of Steele's Creek (Spring Gully), James Wilson's (later James Anderson's) farm on the west side of Hoffmans Rd was Spring Bank and James Robertson Senior called his farm south of Buckley St "Spring Farm". James Robertson Junior built a house on the last property following his mother's death and called it Aberfeldie. His brother Francis built, named and died in the Marlodge homestead; Mar Lodge included all McCracken St house blocks.Coiler McCracken married James Robertson Junior's daughter.

NOVEMBER 1991.Extract from the 1856 electoral roll.Cavenagh should be Cavanagh. Colier should be Collier. Gerrite should be Geraghty. Harvie Crawford should be Crawford Harvie (of Sydenham). Heldrige should be Eldridge. Dr Charles Kent actually lived in Arabin St, Keilor Village (Nov., Dec. 1992 newsletter.) James Laverty's Harvest Home Hotel was actually in Moonee Ponds, roughly between Hinkins St and Mt Alexander Rd, but he had land in Mains estate west of Steele's Creek fronting the north side of Rosehill Rd. O'Connor should be Connor as explained earlier.

DECEMBER 1991. Description, by Mrs Clinton, of nature and children's pursuits in the Keilor area that another whose origin was in Keilor (Donald McDonald, Argus nature journalist)would have been proud to have written. An article about fishing at Horseshoe Bend. It is interesting that Mrs Joyce Clinton, who grew up in Braybrook, knew Solomon's Ford as Clancy's Ford. A map of Braybrook North Township shows that Clancy had all the land on the Canning St side of the ford at Melway 27 C8. Poor Clancy had most of his rock wall pulled down by the henchmen of Thomas Derham, President of Braybrook Shire, who according to Harry Peck in MEMOIRS OF A STOCKMAN made a fortune selling horses, that had grazed on other people's land, to the army in India.

JANUARY, FEBRUARY 1992. Keilor electoral roll for 1903. The electorate was obviously west of the Maribyrnong River as nobody in the parishes of Tullamarine and Doutta Galla is listed. Three people with the surname of Fitzpatrick may have been children of a closer settlement farmer in the Avondale Heights area, related by marriage to the Crotty family of Broomfield in Tullamarine. It includes Sydenham residents such as Edward Joseph Landers, a railway repairer, whose descendants became pioneers of the area (about which Merv Landers supplied me with much information circa 1990.)It is interesting how many people were employed at Rupert Clarke's Rockbank Estate and the Taylors' Overnewton Estate. The same situation existed at Sunbury where Rupert Clarke's Rupertswood Estate (so-named by his father, Sir William) provided employment to many residents.

MARCH, APRIL 1992. Christ Church construction 1877, Mayoral Reports mid 1960's and early 1970's detailing progress, (City of Keilor proclamation) Broadmeadows Observer Souvenir 1961 "Hoffmans Road-Niddrie's Sorrow.
Eddie Deutcher was the first settler on the west side of Hoffmans Rd.The Cordite (Swing) Bridge between Maribyrnong and Avondale Heights was said to have been built in about 1904 but it would have been about a decade later, to connect the Cordite factory with the army railhead at East Keilor, during World War 1.
Hoffmans Rd was the obvious connector between Keilor and Essendon, leading some to believe that the North Pole Inn was near Hoffmans Rd. The original north south road was however Milleara Rd, originally known as North Pole Road, which led to Solomons Ford as did Braybrook Road (Buckley St.) Hoffmans Rd was unmade and had the notorious Moushall Ave dogleg until negotiations took place in the Fullarton household between Dorothy Fullarton and her son Graeme, Mayors respectively of Essendon and Keilor.
Here are some of Eddie Deutcher's memories from EARLY LANDOWNERS:PARISH OF DOUTTA GALLA.
HOFFMANS RD 1923-1969. Eddie Deutcher?s memories. The Fullarton Connection.
It is of interest that in 1923 Hoffmans Rd only went south to the northern end of Moushall Ave, which was originally called Hoffmans Rd until 9-11-1960 (Land Plan 10004). Keilor Council had first made moves to have Hoffmans Rd constructed in 1945 but it was not until November 1969 that the road was made. Essendon and Keilor had agreed in 1957 to construct the road forthwith but it was 10 years before work started. The hold up was a dispute about the proposed width, the two councils? preferences differing by two feet. No doubt the Fullarton connection had something to do with the eventual resolution. John Andrew Peter Fullarton was an Essendon councillor from about 1958 for 13 years (followed by his wife, Dorothy, Essendon?s first female councillor, until 1986.) Their son Graeme was Mayor of Keilor in 1969-70. (?DICTIONARY HISTORY OF TULLAMARINE AND MILES AROUND? PAGE F.96-7.)
The land plan also shows that Garnet St was called Grieve St until 8-6-1962.
It seems that the 1923 subdivision of Springbank fizzled, probably because the tramway extension to Hoffmans Rd did not eventuate. (The Tramway Extension Estate with frontages to Hoffmans Rd and other, but defunct, streets, was advertised for sale on 12-4-1919 according to Bob Chalmers? Annals of Essendon, but obviously shared the same fate.)
SPRINGBANK LINGERS.
On 25-7-1930, when James Anderson mortgaged his land across Green Gully Rd from Braeside (13K Maribyrnong of 35 acres, from the midline of Buchan and Tarwin Courts to the bridge) he was described as a dairyman, formerly farmer, of Buckley Park. As explained before, the location of Springbank was known as Buckley Park in those days, the modern designation of Niddrie not having spread south from 17B, which Henry Stevenson had so-named after a suburb of his native Edinburgh in about 1870. The double storey brick Springbank mansion must have been decaying as it was demolished in the 1930?s. James Anderson may have built a new farmhouse before moving to Braeside. Eddie Deutcher said that when he arrived, the farmhouse was a pink weatherboard occupied by Merle someone and then Mr Shell from 1954 or 1955.

EDDIE DEUTCHER?S MEMORIES.
Ralph Dixon has been mentioned earlier. It is unclear which side of Hoffmans Rd he built on C.1923 but Eddie Deutcher recalls that he was later living opposite Mary St (present No. 49). The Broadmeadows Observer Souvenir edition of 1961 (Proclamation of the City of Keilor) states wrongly that Eddie Deutcher was the first resident on the Keilor side of Hoffmans Rd; Ralph beat him by quite a few years.
A Mr Spencer subdivided his land into four blocks of 44 ? x 138 feet (their depth later reduced to 130 feet when Hoffmans Rd was made.) Spencer, of Price St, died in 1980 and his widow later lived next door to Eddie Deutcher. The only other resident of Hoffmans Rd when Eddie moved in was Harry George at the corner of Mary St. Eddie says that the development of Hoffmans Rd mainly took place between 1951-2 and 1965. In 1949, Eddie bought his block (No. 63) for L135. The other blocks sold for L500 (C.1953), L750 (1956) and $15 000 (about 1969). Eddie moved onto his block from St Kilda in 1951 but had to live in a caravan for 2 ? years because of the post-war shortage of building materials.
Council- owned land in George St was an unofficial dumping ground and a haunt of youngsters who gathered there to smoke. The tip was the source of several fires that threatened the widely scattered houses.
There used to be a training track for trotters near Garnet St.
The Clippertons were another early family in the area. Russell Clipperton was a foundation pupil at the Doutta Galla Primary School. Part of what we now call Hoffmans Rd was occupied by Fred Clipperton?s car wrecking yard and people travelling south had to take the Hoffmans Rd Dogleg which is now called Moushall Ave.
The first shop in Hoffmans Rd was Fred Cook?s general store on the Teague St corner, later Joe Wiley?s and a self serve bottle shop. Probably next was the green grocery started, and still operated many decades later, by Tony Sicerliano. Ray Orchard?s model aeroplane shop and Miss Gartland?s pharmacy were features of the shopping centre for many years.
Power and water came to Eddie and his neighbours in 1953 and sewerage in 1965.
In 1954, Eddie became a Keilor councillor and judging by his grasp and recall of details as shown above, he would have been a good one.
More of Eddie?s memories are on Pages D. 95-8 of my Dictionary history of Tullamarine and Miles Around.

MAY, JUNE 1992. Contribution by Angela Evans. Books about the Keilor area. Minutes of the request for and foundation of the Keilor Road Board.

JULY, AUGUST 1992. Details of the ceremony for the opening of the (extant) iron "Flower Basket" bridge at Keilor.

SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER 1992. The discovery of the Keilor Cranium at Melway 14 K2 (approximately) and detail about the Kulin nation.

NOVEMBER, DECEMBER 1992.Extracts from the Keilor Centenary booklet of 1950 about many pioneers and original locations of buildings. Research into the Caroline Chisholm shelter shed.

JANUARY, FEBRUARY 1993. More extracts from the above booklet. A long article about Lady Franklin because of land that she and Sir John supposedly had on North Pole Road. None of the information was about the Keilor area. The vice regal couple may have had a little portion of J.P.Fawkner's 11B Doutta Galla but title searches have produced no evidence of it. This land, between Milleara and Rachelle Rds (south of Clarks Rd)was occupied by Currie, Dr Crooke's "Brompton Lodge", John Beale's "Shelton", John Duhey, part of Sandy Smith's "Norwood" etc. The portion of Keilor Park east of Collinson St, on which Henry Eldridge built the Sir John Franklin Hotel, was called Franklin Village in one source. However the titles information below, from EARLY LANDOWNERS:PARISH OF DOUTTA GALLA make no mention of Sir John or Lady Franklin's involvement there either. One piece of land owned by the Franklins was section 23 Doutta Galla ("St Johns" granted to a corrupt official of that name, including Strathmore Heights and parts of Essendon Aerodrome and Strathmore North.

TITLE INFORMATION RE 18 A.
It seems that Grey conveyed his share of the grant to Wedge in N 420. Wedge conveyed 18 A to John Gemmell (38 417). On 31-12-1853, Gemmell sold the 132 acres 3 roods and 20 perches to Charles and Joseph Bradshaw for L2657/10/-. Charles and Joseph Bradshaw were involved with 9 of the 20 crown allotments between Brewster and Glass Sts in Essendon, and much of the land between Union and Ascot Vale Rds. It is likely that MacKenzie, who bought most of 18A from the Bradshaws, was the man involved in land dealings in the North, Middle and South St area at Ascot Vale.
The Bradshaws subdivided the grant, naming Erebus, Terror and Snow streets. I believe the first two were named after ships commanded by Nelson at Trafalgar. The Bradshaws may have also named Victory St after Nelson?s flagship but the street is not mentioned in the memorial. However it is also possible that the name arose in the 1920?s when streets in The Central Estate (Keilor Park) were to be named after streets in Melbourne. Permission to do this was refused because of possible confusion with streets 2 ? miles to the East (at Melway 28, D/1), so the names were adapted by the addition or deletion of ?TON? in many cases. Victory St could be a corruption of Victoria St.
The Sir John Franklin hotel, shown on the east corner of Collinson St and Keilor Rd in the 1860 survey map, was actually on lot 1 of allotment A and Henry Elridge?s purchase of this land from Charles Bradshaw is recorded in 20 361. Eldridge bought his corner block for 278 pounds on 1-6-1854. It consisted of 1 acre 3 roods and 17 perches, having frontages of 132 ft to Keilor Rd and 606 ft on the western boundary (Collinson St). The boundary between his lot 1 and High?s lot 2 was 621 ft because the northern boundary (roughly indicated by Swan St) was not parallel with Keilor Rd. The Sir John Franklin Hotel is shown in this portion of the Crown Survey map. (Map cannot be pasted here!)

Two other early purchases from Charles Bradshaw were lot 2 (John High, 20 360) and J.MacKenzie (4 pieces, 24 734).
High made his purchase on the same day as Eldridge, paying 285 pounds for lot 2 of 1 acre 3 roods and 24 perches. His land only contained 7 more perches than Eldridge?s and he paid a pound for each one. (A perch is 25 x 25 links or roughly 5 x 5 metres.) He had the next 132 ft Keilor Rd frontage and his eastern boundary, 2/5 of the way to Erebus St, was 637 feet.
John Mackenzie bought his four parcels in 18A and 50 ? acres in section 21on 15-3-1855. He paid 3000 pounds to Bernard Kavanagh who had paid 3959 pounds to Charles and Joseph Bradshaw previously (24 734). Kavanagh must have been desperate for cash to accept such a loss. Had he mortgaged the four parcels to the Bradshaws and been unable to complete repayments?
The first parcel was bounded by the eastern boundary of 18 A (a line north from the Roberts Rd corner), Snow St, Terror St and the Government road (Keilor Rd).
N.B. Highlighted names are those specified in the memorial.
The second was bounded by the line of Roberts Rd, Spence St, Erebus St and Snow St , but excluded a half acre water reserve 8 chains (8 mm on Melway) east of Russelton St and a road leading to it from Snow St.
The third was bounded by Keilor Rd, Terror St , Snow St and Erebus St but excluded a block with frontages of 132 ? feet to Keilor Rd and 617 feet to Terror St, which had been sold to David Moolhein.
The fourth was bounded by Erebus St, Spence St, Collinson St and, after skirting around Eldridge and High?s lots, the government road 662 ? feet south east to the Erebus St corner,
Lots 1 and 2 consisted of 5.79 acres (965x600 links) and Moolhein?s block 1.87 acres (935x 200 links) so by deducting this 7 acres 2 roods and 19 perches from 132.3.19, we can ascertain that Mackenzie owned 125 acres 1 rood and 1 perch of allotment A, section 18.
On 22-9-1856, Mackenzie conveyed the first parcel of land (bounded by Roberts, Snow, Erebus and Keilor Rd) to William Connor for 462 pounds. This land would have consisted of about 24.4 acres (41 243). William?s widow, Sarah, still owned this land in 1900.She had about 160 acres (lots 23, 24, 33-36, 38-40 in section 19, hence 61 acres) and 18A (99 acres to equal the total of 160 acres). John and Edward McNamara were leasing 369 acres (Spring Park, Springfield and logically 25 acres of 18A.)
As Sarah Connor was leasing 78 acres in sections 18 and 21 and also owned 31 ? acres east and s/w of the cemetery, she must have been a busy widow.
45 733 R.G.Watson.
On 6-2-1857, John Mackenzie sold lot 13 to Robert George Watson. The boundaries of this land started 861 ft west from the s/e corner of 18A and went west for 132 ft, north for 601 ft, east for 136 ? ft and south for 617 ft. This was exactly the same block at the corner of Mackenzie?s third parcel that had been owned by David Moolhein in 1855.
On 9-7-1864, Mackenzie sold lots 28-31 of 18A and 50 ? acres of section 21 to E.Joyce, who paid 2067 pounds to Mackenzie and 108 pounds to Robert Joseph Peel. The 50 ? acres had been bought from J.F.L.Foster by John Peel for L2015/8/9 on 27-6-1855 and adjoined lots 28-31. The 18A land was the 2nd parcel specified in 24 734 (bounded by Spence,Erebus, Snow and the eastern boundary of 18A ( a line north from the Roberts Rd corner). John Peel had bought this land (lots 28-31) for L290/19/6 on 29-6-1860
but had probably mortgaged it to Mackenzie and been unable to repay the money.

I CAN VAGUELY REMEMBER CHRIS LASKOWSKI BEING UNABLE TO CONTINUE AS EDITOR FOR SOME REASON BUT SHE MAINTAINED HER ASSOCIATION WITH THE SOCIETY. SUSAN JENNISON BECAME THE EDITOR.

SEPTEMBER 1996. Charles Brown Fisher, Keilor Courthouse/Shire Hall heritage Classification, The Gourleys-Closer Settlement pioneers at Sydenham and the Boundy store, Dodd's homestead and a partial parish of Maribyrnong map.
It is not mentioned that Fisher also owned the part of Avondale Heights east of North-Military Rd as well as Aitken's grant to the east. This seems to have been in the boom years of the late 1880's. Taking an each-way bet, Fisher also owned Woodlands near Bulla (and possibly Cumberland, south of it.) Whether the railway went to Bulla along the Maribyrnong or along Bulla Rd, he was sure to make a killing.The depression ended the idea of the railway and caused Fisher's bankruptcy.Losing Woodlands and Maribyrnong to Tommy Bent, he leased Oaklands at the south corner of Oaklands and Craigieburn Rds for a while.
George Boundy's original store was probably the one at Broadmeadows Township (Westmeadows)where the milk bar is located today near the historic bridge.

OCTOBER 1996. Gold escorts, Matthew Goudie, film history in Footscray,spraying caterpillars in New Zealand, the 1928 bridges for the Albion-Jacana line.

NOVEMBER 1996. Cup Eve Ball recipe for a fruit salad for 200 people, photo with no text about the Cordite bridge, 1968-9 Mayoral Report, more about New Zealand.

DEC. 96, JAN. 97. Council's scheme to reclaim the Tea Gardens and the Maribyrnong Valley, including information about closer settlement pioneer, David Hicks.

FEB., MARCH 1997. Extracts from 1971-2 Mayoral Report (Overnewton, the Organ Pipes, the Sydenham development), the Eureka's Children project.

APRIL, MAY 1997. Repeat of opening of Keilor's iron flower basket bridge. Many interesting articles regarding the archeological discoveries at the two sites on the Maribyrnong near Keilor and a map showing the actual locations of the sites; the Green Gully site was actually at the location of the wetlands area of Brimbank Park (Melway 14 G9.)The 1928 bridge over the Maribyrnong on the Albion-Jacana Line.Extracts from the Brimbank Council website re history and ward boundaries. I am most impressed by the names given to the wards!

JUNE, JULY 1997. Some issues in which the society is involved. Extracts from a history text about Geelong Grammar's Timbertop campus near Mansfield with extensive detail about the Hunter and Watson families.(It mentions that Keilor, Watsonia and Rosanna owe their names to James Watson but the author was apparently unaware that Watson was the grantee of Hugh Glass's Flemington Estate and so-named it after an estate that his father managed in Scotland. Watson and Hunter were partners in the Marquis of Ailsa's firm which explains the naming of Hunter and Ailsa Streets in Keilor Village. I think Watson also received the grant for the 160 or so acres between Lincoln Rd and Mar Lodge and built some sort of store near where Tulip Wright built the Lincolnshire Arms Hotel.) Photos of the Dodd Homestead, Sunshine Harvester Works and Lagoon Motors in Keilor Village circa 1940.

AUGUST, SEPTEMBER 1997. The Fox family of North Pole Rd and Barbiston, Tullamarine, with keen photographer, Martha Fox, being the major focus. Unfortunately no detail is given of the location of the farm in North Pole Rd but the extract from EARLY LANDOWNERS:PARISH OF DOUTTA GALLA (in italics below) might help. The "Block" probably comprised lots 1 and 2 of the Arundel Closer Settlement, adjoining Barbiston where Arundel and NcNabs Rds meet. Hopefully the two Fox houses near this junction are still standing. Geraghty's Paddock on the North side of Annandale Rd, over the road from Alf Cock's Glenvue, is another Closer Settlement block not mentioned.

ALLOTMENT C OF SECTION 18.
Bounded by Milleara Rd., Clarks Rd. and Spring St. and consisting of 162 ? acres, 18C was granted to D.T.Kilburn. He had also received the grant for lot 13 of section 4. Lawrence Kelly was leasing this property by 1868 and by 1875 was also leasing Collier?s Farm (at the n/w corner of section 12), which adjoined the s/e corner of 18C.
The Geological Survey map of 1860 shows a quarry used for road metal on 18C near Keilor Rd. This quarry and the ones near the s/w corner of the Essendon Aerodrome site may have been operating since, or before 1842, when Denis Larry was listed in the directory as a quarryman of Doutta Galla. The one on Kelly?s farm may, however, have been opened by Samuel Charles Brees*, who stated, on 20-1-1853, ?Quarries are likewise opened at several parts of the line for the bottoming and levelling of the road.?
(*Brees was in charge of the construction of Mt Alexander Rd to the diggings and built the first substantial bridge at Keilor in 1854. A street in East Keilor was named after him by Garnet Price.)

In 1875 Kelly was leasing the 163 acres from J.P.Bear and was leasing 48 acres near Spring Gully from Mary Harris. Kelly married Margaret Fox in Ireland in 1854, which is significant. Michael Fox arrived from King?s County, Ireland, with his widowed mother and a brother and sister according to Rose Reddan (nee Fox). Did his widowed mother come to Australia in 1866 to be with a sister named Margaret? This is likely as Michael, who married Rose Reilly on 20-7-1873, named one of his daughters Margaret. She died in March 1878 at only 10 months of age. In 1900, Michael Fox owned the Corcoran?s North Pole Farm and Kelly?s 163 acres, a total of 344 acres. Michael bought Barbiston at Tullamarine soon after. His son, John still owned 18 D and C twenty eight years later when the Albion-Jacana rail branch was built. Ray Taylor told me that John sold land for a station to T.M.Bourke in 1928 and later sold the property to Ansair. Michael Fox lived in the house on the corner of Keilor and Milleara Rds. until his death in 1918. The Fox family used to spell their dry cows on The Oaks across Milleara Rd.
For some reason, there are photos of Mars that Martha would have liked.

OCTOBER, NOVEMBER 1997. Extract from Victorian Historical records re Charles Grimes which gives a misleading impression that the explorations by Grimes and the short tenure of Collins' settlement in Port Phillip Bay in 1803 were connected. Photos and captions that will require a good magnifying glass. Extracts from Victoria and its Metropolis, written in 1888, (Hunter and Watson, descriptions of Braybrook, Keilor, Broadmeadows, Melton areas, A'Hearn of Epping, John Anderson-whose house still stands between the bridge and hall at Westmeadows, Dennis Cahill of the Gumm's Corner farm taken over by Jose Borrell in 1916; the Cahill homestead still stands near the bike path, William Delahey of Oakley Park and Leslie Banks.) Robert Hoddle's March 1839 map showing a railroad proposed from Melbourne to Liardet's Beach or Sandridge, the West Melbourne Swamp that made Solomon's ford necessary and the burial ground in the Flagstaff Gardens/Vic. Market area.

FEB., MARCH 1998.The start of a yacht race is mentioned to illustrate that such events can become great history if they are recorded in diaries.Early places of worship and stone buildings near Keilor with a very good picture of the Robertson "Upper Keilor" homestead near the Keilor Golf Course. Part of Brimbank Cultural Heritage Study. Excellent photo of the Flower -basket bridge at Keilor followed by an article about Victoria's timber bridges. The Collins settlement at Sorrento.

APRIL, MAY 1998. Harrick's Cottage restoration became possible on 14-5-1998. Bulla Directory of 1868. (This includes landowners around Bulla but does not seem to include residents up Oaklands Rd; they would have been listed under Oaklands Junction. The Reddans were north of Dickins Corner -Melway 176 D7- one of their farms being "Holden View" and John Dickens (sic) on Coldingham Lodge south of the bend. Walter Clark of Glenara is listed but his neighbours to the south such as the Mansfields, Grays, Charles Farnes, the Ritchies etc would have been listed under Tullamarine. Two residents with a connection to Keilor were Dugald Stewart whose daughter married James Anderson of Spring Park/ Braeside and the Tates of "Pleasant Vale" on Tullamarine Island north of George Randall. Some of the Wildwood Rd residents were the McAuliffes of "Wildwood", David Patullo of "Craig Bank" and John Fanning of Emu Flat. Edward Fanning's family still had "Sunnyside" south of the Loemans /Diggers Rest Rd junction in the 1990's and probably still owns it after over a century and a half of occupancy;See Kathleen Fanning's FANNING FAMILY website which has a good Bulla parish map.) Memories of old Keilor resident,William Johnston, which indicates that the Eldorado Hotel was later John Eagling's Waggoners' Arms and David Yates Racecourse Hotel on the west corner of Arabin St. The Eldorado was run by Donald McDonald's father for some time; Johnston genealogical information. The Sydenham Public Hall, Proposal for Sydenham Park (Robertson's Upper Keilor Homestead area). Platypus Survey. No toilets for pioneering women!









TO BE CONTINUED.

PAGE 11
The Firth grants in Moorooduc parish can be seen on the maps I have included. The Balnarring grants are as follow, with Melway co-ordinates indicating location.
J.Firth 10A, 112.3.3, 162 D 8-9
Wm. Firth, 10B, 13B, 235.3.28, 162E 8-11
James Firth, 5, 319.1.23, 162 E-f 5-7 and fronting Balnarring Rd.
James married Ellen Benton, John married Kate Gilligan and William married Ann Scott.
(Ellen Benton was probably living on J.G.Benton?s 207 acres (193 A2-4, fronting three roads) about a mile south from James Firth?s Balnarring land. Kate Gilligan would almost certainly been the daughter of Thomas Gilligan?s widow Catherine who had 60 acres on the south west corner of Jones and Bungower Rds. Ann Scott was probably the daughter of Alexander Scott, whose allotment 62A, of 90 acres, was adjacent to that of the Gilligans, on the Webbs Lane corner.)
Leila Shaw has kindly provided me with a summary of a letter written by E.Firth following the drowning of a large proportion of the Mornington Football Club that is commemorated by the monument at the bottom of Main St. It follows in italics. Leila said that her address was given as Mornington but as I have found in googling on TROVE, most references to Tuerong and Moorooduc were usually followed by ?Mornington?, so Leila?s belief that they were living in Stumpy Gully Rd could be correct. The letter was presumably written to her brother and sister in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.

A LETTER BY E.FIRTH, JUNE 9TH, 1892 by Leila Shaw.

Mornington,
June 9th, 1892.
In a letter to her mother and brother in the Orkney Islands, E.Firth tells of local footballers who went in a boat to play a football game at Mordialloc. On their return journey, the boat capsized and all fifteen men were drowned. She writes that her brother John?s two sons were amongst them. The second son, James, had been getting on very well for nearly three years in his trade with John Jenkins. (She doesn?t say which trade.)
The accident happened on 21 May, 1892. It was reported in many newspapers. They were a fine bunch of men.
John was out at sea every day searching for the bodies. All that he found were a coat belonging to one of the lads, at Sorrento, and not so far west he found a singlet, and a cornet that young Coles had been playing.
Further on in the letter, she writes that three bodies were found, one being John?s son and the other two were John Kenna and Mrs Batman?s son. The body of James was fully clothed but without boots. A military funeral took place the next day and ?The Dead March? (sic) was played.

Miss Firth?s information is not quite accurate. Four bodies were found although my source does not specify their names. One of John?s sons must have traveled on the train. James Firth was 17 and John Kemp 18. Leila says that the handwriting was hard to understand and guessed Batman; it may have been Allchin. Victorian Historical Morn. Pen. P.4.

PAGE 12
Mrs James Firth died in tragic circumstances in February 1923. Until sixty year later, the train used to cross Moorooduc Rd where the tourist trains are stored when not running to the Watts Rd platform. Middle aged Mrs Firth was driving across Moorooduc Crossing at a moderate speed when she saw a train coming. Moderate was probably a kind way of saying painfully slow; she probably thought the car would bolt if given too much rein! Certain that the car would be hit, she clambered into the back seat (according to a witness) and then jumped out of the car in blind terror. Ironically the car rolled out of harm?s way while Mrs Firth jumped right in front of the train.
Trove shows that the incident was reported in the Argus as well as in newspapers in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Hobart and Perth.

RENOUF/SAWYER/GRIFFITH/PROSSER/COXSHALL/HOPCRAFT.
The Argus of 29-7-1916 reported the death of Sarah Renouf, the widow of Amise Renouf of Frankston, who died on 15-7-1916 at her daughter?s residence in Dromana. She was 95 and a colonist of 68 years. Strangely all of her children had the surname ?Sawyer?, indicating an earlier marriage. Two of her sons had moved to the vicinity of Neerim but another two were pioneers of the locality known as Moorooduc and a daughter married into a prominent Dromana pioneering family. Her children were: L. and H.Sawyer (at and near Neerim), J.Sawyer(Moorooduc), F.Sawyer (Bittern), Mrs John Hopcraft and Mrs Jonah Griffith.
As my original area of research was between Safety Beach and Tootgarook, I think I can be forgiven for having a hazy recollection of information that I have noticed about places outside this area. I am sure a Renouf was a director of the Frankston Fish Company and it may have been Amise. David Renouf, who bought a block (which had seen many Floods since it was granted) from John Scott and named it Island View, might have been a son or nephew of Amise.
The same depth of knowledge exists in relation to Henry Prosser. I know that Henry was a fisherman and I think he owned farmland as well. Having deliberately ignored the Westernport area (so I wouldn?t get side-tracked), I?m not even sure whether he was at Hastings or Flinders. The fact that he stood against Alfred Jones in the East Riding of Mornington Shire in 1881 indicates that it could have been the former. He seems to have become a councilor. When some Government big-wigs came to Frankston, Cr Prosser drove them around the district.
It is possible that descendants of Henry later moved to Red Hill. Keith Holmes is adamant that the surname of the Red Hill family was Prossor but Hector Hanson recalls neighbours Norm and May Prosser near Tucks Rd. But what do the Prossers have to do with the Renoufs and Sawyers?
I googled Sawyer-Prosser on Trove in the hope of finding some details of the marriage. There I found information posted by somebody who must be researching the Hodgkinson family. It so happened that Sarah Renouf had been born Sarah Prosser and had married Isaac Sawyer. Jessie Sawyer, her son, who had a farm called ?Summerlands (Annals 26-2-1921) had a daughter that married John Hodgkinson (born 1898 Daylesford). In the following, all deaths occurred in Victoria where no details appear.

PAGE 13
Jesse was born in 1854 and died on 21-11-1925 at Mornington. (So his retirement, at 67, lasted only four years.) He married Mary Ann Coxshall at Frankton on 6-2-1878. She had been born at Moorooduc on 29-4-1858 and died at Schnapper Point in 1909. It is strange that the old name for Mornington appeared in records so long after the name change. A search of Summerlands on trove revealed that Jesse was living in View St, Mornington, at the time of his death (Argus 26-11-1925.) Mary Ann died at Summerlands on 3rd October (Argus 5-10-1909.) Their son, James William died at Mornington on 24-5-1948 (Argus 29-5-1948.)
I?ve heard of short pregnancies but this takes the cake (unless Sarah?s father was equipped for a bit of rabbiting after the wedding service!) It seems that Jesse was a frisky devil and that Mary Ann was not the type to develop a headache at bedtime. Or perhaps, she had developed a method to make all her pregnancies last only three months and nineteen days! With SP standing for Schnapper Point, here are the details of their fifteen children.
1. SARAH EMILY B. 25-5-1878.
2. ANNIE B.10-9-1879 SP
3. FREDERICK HENRY B.1-7-1881 SP D.1-4-1882 SP.
4. JAMES WILLIAM B.10-8-1882 SP D. 1948 MORNINGTON.
5. JESSIE B. 2-10-1883 Bittern D.14-8-1950 CHATHAM, VIC.
Jessie married James Alexander Johnstone (and other spouses.)
6. MARY ELIZABETH B.28-11-1884 SP D.1886.
7. ERNEST THOMAS B.8-5-1882 SP.
8. JOHN RENOUF B.10-7-1887 SP.
9. ETHEL MAUDE B. 16-8-1888 SP D. 24-6-1969.
10. ALICE RUBY B. 20-1-1890.
11. HILDA MAY B. 12-5-1891MOOROODUC.
12. HENRY ISAAC B. 5-9-1892 D. 25-9-1892.
13. WINIFRED FRANCES B. 1-12-1893.
14. GRACE B. 11-2-1895 D.1973 MENTONE. M. John Hodgkinson.
15. HAROLD STEWART B.12-7-1898 MORNINGTON, D. 29-1-1963 ELSTERNWICK.
It is likely that Isaac Sawyer had died and his widow had remarried by 1887 when John Renouf Sawyer was born and named.

Mrs John Hopcraft- See the Sawyer land in Wannaeue.

Mrs Jonah Griffith.
I quote from page 69 of Colin McLear?s ?A Dreamtime of Dromana?.
Jonah Griffith died on July 12, 1933, aged 83. He was married to Sarah Sawyer and had seven children.
1. Maud Alice 1871; 2. Edith Annie 15/11/1873-1953; 3.Delia Sarah 5/3/1874-1951
4. Gertrude18/8/1876; 5. Sylvester Frederick George 1872 (1882?);
6. Harry Lewis Theobald 23/1/1885-27-3-1954; 7. Grace Dora 26/10/1889-1977.
Jonah, known as Doan, was a builder and a professional fisherman working closely with Harry Copp. He lived in Seaview Parade off Jetty Rd (Melway 159 H8).

PAGE 14
Colin has plenty of information about the Griffith family. Doan?s father came from Philadelphia with his wife Sarah and (probably) Watson and Bernard Eaton. Bernard was the gold miner and father of Maud Eaton. Hollinshed lazily called him Mr Eaton because Colin did not know his Christian name.

THE SAWYER LAND.
Wannaeue.
In 1879 Frederick Sawyer was leasing 142 acres in the parish of Wannaeue from the Crown. There were only three Crown allotments of this size and Professor Hearn already had two of them. This left only 21B of 142 acres 3 roods and 1 perch, granted to Alex. Shand Jun. on 1-6-1909. This land is fairly well indicated by Melway 190 D9 and C-D10.
And guess who had the land north of his. John Hopcraft. Guess who had 178 acres (70 A and B, Balnarring) to the north and east of the start of Tucks Rd. William Hopcraft! Directly across the road (69A Balnarring) was Robert Henry Adams, whose ?gentlewoman? wife, a Hopcraft girl, refused to live at Hopetoun House with the ungentlemanly old sea salt, Captain Henry Everest Adams. Both Frederick and Robert did not extend their licences and their land was granted, respectively, to Shand and M.Byrne. The Hopcrafts moved further south later and the Hansons occupied William?s beautiful house and called it Alpine Chalet. (Sources: parish maps, rates, marriage certificate of Adams-Hopcraft, Adams family legend, ?Adams Corner? Ray Gibb, ?Memoirs of a Larrikin? Hec Hanson.)
In the FAMILY CONNECTIONS entry of my PENINSULA DISTRICT HISTORY, I demonstrate how the bride and groom met each other. In most cases the two families were at some stage very close neighbours. Fred Sawyer was in 1879 the neighbor of John Hopcraft, the man that his sister married.

Bittern.
The grants in this parish are described in the 26-2-1921 entry in the Annals of Moorooduc.

Moorooduc.
There is a chance that Summerlands was in the locality of Moorooduc rather than the parish of Moorooduc. The former included the parish of Bittern. After careful measurement in Melway, I have concluded that the location of Summerlands as given in the advertisement of 26-2-1921 is nonsense. There is no way it could have been 8 miles from Somerville and still be near Moorooduc. Perhaps the distances were written in figures and a typesetter misread a 3 as 8. The corner of Coolart and Tyabb Rds would be about 5 miles from Mornington and 3 miles from Somerville.


GOMIN Henry, Somerville. (HENRY GOMM!)
This is how the surname Gomm is rendered on the Kingston Heritage website (where his father?s surname is given as Gunn) and in Victoria and its Metropolis: Past and Present, published in 1888. In the latter, Henry stated that he had been born in
PAGE 15
Oxford in 1839, had come to Victoria in the same year and had spent his whole life in farming pursuits. There was a Henry Gomm, born in 1835, who came to Australia in early 1838 but no mention of one who was born in 1839 and came to Australia in 1839.
My interest in Somerville Henry Gomm was aroused when I read Leila Shaw?s ?The Way We Were? because the seaside block now housing Jetty?s Caf? near the Rosebud jetty was granted to W.Gomm in late 1872 and Harry Gomm paid the rates on it in 1900 and 1910, although the directory for Rosebud in 1895 did not list him as a resident.
I thought Henry?s 1888 biography was suspiciously brief and that the lack of detail was an attempt to hide something. When I made contact with Henry?s great grandson, Murray Gomm, he told me something that increased my suspicion that Somerville Henry was the lad born in 1835. (This Henry was the third child of Henry Gomm who married Hannah Neal and was transported to Hobart in 1836!) The snippet that caused my suspicion to increase was that the family legend had it that that Henry had come to Australia on the same ship as Tommy Bent. The future Premier of Victoria was actually born in Penrith, N.S.W. Was Henry manufacturing a new past?
Thus began an investigation of ?The Mysterious Henry Gomm? that eventually proved that Henry was not related to Convict Henry and that William Gomm (who died at Hastings) and Thomas Gomm (who died at Dromana) were Convict Henry?s sons. My book, ?The Mysterious Henry Gomm?, which is virtually a diary of discoveries, starts with information about Rosebud, adds information from Leila?s book and then traces the unraveling of the mystery. As it involves much information about Somerville Henry and Convict Henry?s families, and St Kilda-Cheltenham as well as Somerville, it will be made available to the Somerville-Tyabb Historical Society, Parkdale Library (Kingston City?s Historian) and the Prahran Mechanics? Institute. It includes many photos of Henry Gomm?s ?Glenhoya? provided by Murray Gomm. As my poem on the back cover relates many events relevant to the Annals of Moorooduc, I will include it here, but there is not enough room for the other 33 pages.

SNIPPETS FROM THE BOOK.
Paddy Gomm?s two sons were Somerville Football Club legends but were also enterprising in their working careers. Billy rose to a high position in the Lands Department but was also Melboune?s biggest S.P, bookmaker. He dressed like a real yobbo on the farm and once drank with Reg Ansett at the Mornington races wearing a shoe and a gumboot! George ran a prize-winning dairy farm in Queensland, gave Colin Hayes his start in racing, and saved a ghost town in N.S.W. and the Somerville Hotel.
The Gomms were related by marriage to two other pioneering families, the Shepherds and the Firths. George Gomm married a Wilson girl from Red Hill.
Convict Henry Gomm?s son, William, who died at Hastings, left his elderly, first wife and started siring children with a 20 year old.
Henry Gomm was granted land in the parishes of Tyabb and Frankston ( Gomms Rd area) but his ?Glenhoya? where he settled at the north east corner of the parish of Moorooduc was not bought from the Crown.


PAGE 16
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PADDY GOMM Argus issue


When little sis Beatrice went to Graf at Ascot Vale
Paddy gave help so their marriage wouldn?t fail;
Her rejection by Henry was a sorry tale
So he?d take her food when he went to a Newmarket sale.

Big sis Minnie Ann witnessed three deaths by suicide:
Stan Clarke and Janet Ross when their love expired, 5-11-1921.
And hubby, George Shepherd, when his pain grew too great,
Made use of a shotgun to seal his fate. 28-6-1932.

H.T.Dicker, a bookie of Highfield Estate, took his life,
Mainly due to grief over the death of his wife; 4-9-1901.
And near-blind Herb Murray chose to expire
With the aid of knife and shotgun and fire. 13-9-1946.

Tommy Bent, Paddy?s dad?s old mate
By 1906, was Premier of the State
And opening the Annual Fruitgrowers? Show
Told why his Brighton cabbages did abundantly grow.

A field day at J.Byrne?s Binnak led to orcharding finer, 19-8-1933.
Caldwell?s St Johns sent the first fruit trees to China, 9-10-1936.
In early Fruit Shows J.Docwra?s exhibits were beaut
And in ?44, fire destroyed the hall for displaying fruit. 9-3-1944.

Of her milk production, J.Hutchins kept tabs;
Best Jersey in the Empire was Somerville Babs. 16-2-1925.
Webb had found great clay on his land;
Construction of his Pottery Works was in hand. 24-3-1902.

Mornington-Somerville played footy in 1937, a depression-caused merge.
If William Coleman had settled here, what a goalkicking splurge!
But his 33 acres were further back 22-7-1925.
And Hastings got the kid known as Deadshot Jack. (Coleman google.)

After 40 years, to replace the school came a push:
?In poor condition and now in the bush!? 3-10-1912.
Grasshoppers, thrip, black spot kept orchardists? hands full
Did I mention J.Firth was gored by a bull? 3-2-1936.






LESLIE M. MOORHEAD wrote centenary books for several schools in the area, and while brief, they present the history of each community very well. The old church that was responsible for the Quinns becoming Presbyterians was built by public subscription but most of the money came from Richard Grice, James Butchart and Mrs Balcombe. Dick Smith berates the lack of generosity from the haves in today?s society but a walk through Mornington shows that the Balcombes did much for the community. No doubt Grice and Butchart were just as public spirited.
The church served as the first school. In 1865 an application was sent for aid, the payment of a master?s salary and for the school to be brought under the Common Schools Act. It was signed by members of the Blake, Benton, McKay, Matthie, Absolom, Norman, Wilson, Connell, White, Quinn, Andrews, Ricketts, Smith, Flood and Dunkerly families. It was pointed out that there were 64 children living within a two mile radius of the school. An inspector was sent out to assess the situation and reported that most of the inhabitants were woodcutters and labourers rather than farmers but were likely to stay in the area, ensuring a stable population.
Thirty two children attended when the school commenced, so the area had obviously been populated quickly and probably by the offspring of pioneers in areas closer to Melbourne. Rickett?s parents had obviously been early settlers near Beaumaris (fine sea). Many of Somerville?s pioneers, such as the Gomms and Docwras had come from the same area. Henry Gomm was about 26 at this time and it is likely that many of the settlers were of about the same age.

PAGE 17
THE PETITIONERS.
Blake was a captain, presumably a sailor. Benjamin Benton received the grant for 26A of 32 acres across Moorooduc Rd from Tuerong Rd and much land in the parishes of Bittern and Balnarring. He supplied timber for the Mornington pier.
J.H.Ricketts received the grant for 18a Bittern on 4-6-1884. He might have been leasing this land from the Crown at the time he signed the petition for a school, and being one of the many poor woodcutters on the area that the Inspector described, he probably took about 20 years to pay it off (the value of improvements deducted from the purchase price.)
S.Absolom received the grant for 11A and 11B Bittern, 100 acres, on the north east corner of Stumpy Gully and Graydens Rds. W.S.Absolom was granted 34 A Bittern, of 69 acres, on the south west corner of Coolart and Graydens Rds.
The parish of Bittern was south of Tyabb Rd and East of Derril Rd, which was parallel to Stumpy Gully Rd. Today, Derril Rd curves around the Devil Bend Reservoir whose waters cover the grants of George Dimmock, James Connell, F.P.Wagner, J.Ferguson and R.Turner in the parish of Bittern and part of Rennison?s grant in the parish of Moorooduc, where the Schnapper Point Handicap was conducted in 1868.

The following maps show the portions of the parish of Moorooduc that became, along with parts of the parish of Bittern, the locality of Moorooduc.(PAGES 18 AND 19)

PAGE 20
Andrew McKay received the grant (title from the Crown) for allotment 5 in section A, 266 acres south of Tyabb Rd between Moorooduc and Derril Rds. Wilson was possibly J.B.Wilson of Tuerong Station or E.M.Wilson, granted 10D adjoining the east side of the Tuerong pre-emptive right. It could also have been Henry William Wilson who lived where Three Chain Road meets the highway before changing his occupation from bullocky to butcher. In view of the fact that the Wilson signature is followed by that of Connell, I believe that it was the founder of the butchering empire who signed.
James Connell received the grant for allotment 12 near the boundary with Kangerong and Bittern parishes. It was probably James whose rates on 50 acres and a hut in Dromana (probably 27C Kangerong at Melway 161 A7) were paid for him by Wilson at the deathknock on 20-1-1865. The rate collector didn?t know much. As well as not knowing the given names of Connell and Wilson, he didn?t realize that the name Dromana only applied to land west of McCulloch St.
Colin McLear tells us the following. The Connells were tenants on Jamiesons Special Survey in 1851 or shortly thereafter. (Anthony Connell?s block was probably near the one later occupied by Henry Wilson.) A descendant of Anthony?s was a silent partner of Jack Rudduck in Mornington Station in the Kimberleys in the 1950?s. Mornington Station was near Fitzroy Crossing 300 miles inland from Derby.
The Connell and White children were among the pupils of a school that operated near the Hickinbotham Winery site in the early 1850?s. This school may have closed when the teacher?s wife died or because two private schools had been opened in Dromana by Quinan and Nicholson. Its closure was probably the impetus for the establishment of a school in Moorooduc.
Anthony Connell was obviously the forerunner of the Connell family in the area. He received the grants for allotments 27 and 29, totaling 337 acres, all or part of which became the rifle range.
In 1910, James Connell, a farmer of Mornington, was leasing 238 acres (lots 3-6 of Bruce?s) and James Connell, a farmer of Tuerong, was leasing 230 acres (lots 1,2 of Bruces.) This land was just south of Ellerina Rd in the parish of Kangerong. I presume that would be James senior and James junior. Bruce?s was the northern section of the Survey fronting the Sea Lane, which is now called Bruce Rd, and is the boundary between Kangerong and Moorooduc parishes.
The White and Quinn families have already been mentioned and it was probably a descendant of the next signatory, Smith, who bought Peter White?s farm on Three Chain Rd. I wonder if Matthie should be Mathieson. Margaret Matheson (sic?) was the grantee of 57 acres right across the road from the old church. James Flood had lot 75 of 178 acres on the north west corner of Stumpy Gully and Tyabb Rds and much land south of Tyabb Rd in the parish of Bittern.
Quinn, Norman, Smith and Dunkerly were not grantees, They probably bought part of a pre-emptive right or a Crown Allotment that had been granted to a speculator. Quinn?s farm was part of Sumner?s P.R.

PAGE 21
FROM THE PARISH MAP.
GILLETT, RENNISON.
Francis A.Gillett received the grant for 11C of 320 acres on 14-4-1874. Gillett Rd and the Woods Bushland Reserve are now on the allotment. Like James Purves, pioneer of Tootgarook Run, Francis Gillett must have been an architect. He designed Manyung at Mt Eliza and then built Sunnyside nearby. (Shire of Mornington Heritage Study P.16.)
He or his son must have married a Van Suylen girl from near Hastings. He was appointed a magistrate of the central bailiwick in 1885, his residence given as Sunnyside..
South of Gillett?s grant was 11B of just under 240 acres where a race meeting was probably held in 1868.It was granted to Thomas Rennison, owner of the Schnapper Point Hotel in Mornington, which is now the Royal. When advertised for sale in the Argus of 9-12-1950, it was called Tuerong Valley and the quarry was bringing in four pounds a week.
MAILER.
It has been nearly 20 years since I read Richard Broome?s ?Between Two Creeks? but I believe that he mentioned Robert Mailer as a pioneer of Coburg.

COUNSEL.
I believe that the forerunner of the Sherwood and Counsel families were master nurserymen who obtained their expertise on the estates of the rich and aristocratic in England. The Counsels tended the vineyard of William Grace on Gracefield (Melway 159 H11) and later owned the property. As well as the 520 acres shown here in Moorooduc, the family had a grant of 121 acres in Kangerong and grants in Balnarring and Bittern parishes.

ISAACS AND WHITAKER.
I believe that Isaacs and Benjamin were two money lenders who signed on as joint grantees and were then bought out (with interest) by their co-grantees. Isaacs and Bensilum were granted a block in Fingal and Benjamin and Marks were granted a block on the west corner of Boneo and Pt Nepean Rd at Rosebud. Whitaker?s descendants may have owned a bus company that did tourist runs to the Peninsula from Melbourne, dropping off and picking up from Dromana, Rosebud, Birkdale* and Rye.(*Tootgarook.)

CAMPBELL.
John Campbell left Dromana with William Cottier (who established the Rye Hotel in Dromana in 1859) soon after they had signed a letter supporting an application for Quinan?s school to be made a Common School in 1861. They built a hotel east of Lyons St in Tootgarook and gave it the same name, which led to Tootgarook being renamed Rye. Whether this grantee was the Rye pioneer is unclear because he was still involved in this area in about 1889.




GILLIGAN.
It is possible that some of the Bulla family had moved south. Bulla had a high concentration of Irish pioneers, as did Keilor. The Bulla Catholics, such as the Crottys who worked for Brannigan at St Johns (at the end of St Johns Lane), attended St Augustines in Keilor where Hannah O?Neil (who married John Sullivan) may have been in the congregation if she was the daughter of William O?Neil of Horseshoe Bend. How strange that the names of GILLIGAN, O?NEIL and SULLIVAN are among those of Somerville pioneers!

HEARN.
See details under Dalkeith.

BALCOMBE.
Visit The Briars and find out all about this public spirited man who was always ready to support the little man?s interests, as the Mornington Shire Heritage Study shows. The monument just off Main St shows the community?s love of this benefactor. His farm?s name comes from the family?s estate in the Channel Isles.

McLENNAN, McKAY, FIRTH, TAIT, JONES, ALLAN, SCOTT.
See the annals of Moorooduc.

Johnny Ashcroft's "Little Boy Lost", written soon after Steven Walls had been found in the "wild New England Ranges" was a sensation in 1960, and a film about the song's subject was made in 1978. A You Tube video features scenes from the film and Ashcroft singing the iconic song. The video provides an idea of how frantically people searched for the little girl lost and the little boy lost in the first two stories. The Franklinford story is about a man who had disappeared and the affect it had on two other residents.

LITTLE GIRL LOST.
Owen Cain died on 28-6-1896 at 98 and had been a resident of Rye for 55 years.(Mornington Standard 2-7-1896 page 3.) In 1841, the Mornington Peninsula was occupied by a few squatters and a few limeburners near "The Heads". Owen Cain found plenty of lime just on the Rye side of Canterbury Jetty Rd where he later built "Tyrone" named after his native county in Ireland. Other street names on this estate that recall the Cain family are Neville, Murray and Michael, the first two being maiden names of girls who married Michael and Joseph Cain. As I have searched fruitlessly for my notes regarding this story, I will have to write from memory.

Sarah Ann Cain was four when she disappeared. Perhaps she had woken from a nap and gone looking for her parents; no explanation was given for her disappearance. I forget whether the story was in Lime Land Leisure or Patricia Appleford's "Rye Primary School 1667" but I do remember the source was the McCrae lad at Arthurs Seat, so the events probably took place in 1843. For four days and four nights rescuers had been combing the bush looking for her, some of whom she had seen from a distance. But she hid, thinking that they might be aborigines. When she was eventually found, near dead, she was taken to George Smith's Wooloowoolooboolook Run homestead, where Mrs Smith nursed her back to health. I believe Smith's run was actually the Tootgarook run later sold by Edward Hobson to James and Peter Purves in 1850. As the Hobson journal shows, Edward and his brother were actually at Traralgon (which they named)and if Edward had taken up the lease for Tootgarook, he had probably transferred it to Smith, whose wife was related to Captain Hobson of the "Rattlesnake" (according to Spencer Jackson in his "Beautiful Dromana") and presumably to Edward Hobson.

LITTLE BOY LOST.
The little boy lost was not named in the story on page 2 of the Melbourne Argus of 12-9-1848. He was referred to as the two year old son of Mr H.Hayden, tutor at Mrs Greene's "Woodlands".To find the locale for this story, google Bulla Parish map and click on the first site, Kathleen Fanning's Fanning Family History. You will see section 2 at the bottom right hand corner of the parish map and labelled W.P.Greene. William Pomeroy Greene died soon after settling his family on "Woodlands" and the running of the property was done by his widow Ann and their son Rawdon, after whom Rawdon St in Bulla was named. (The Bulla end of Somerton Rd was also named after the family until recently, but some historically ignorant bureaucrat rendered it as Green St and the mistake was perpetuated.)The South west corner of Woodlands is indicated by Melway 177 J9. The angular area just south of the park entrance was the former site of St Mary's, built in 1858. South of Woodlands was Cumberland in the parish of Will Will Rook, whose homestead was built by George Coghill, and south west was Alexander Kennedy's grant (Inverness?)and, south of that, George Coghill's Glencairne, both of which became Walter Clark's "Glenara".At Melway 178 C6, can be seen "Sherwood", home of the Oaklands Hunt Club. This property had been the head station of a squatting run held by Major Firebrace.(This detail is given so that you will understand the part given as verbatim as my notes allow later on.

The boy was lost for the same period of time as Sarah Ann had been. No reason for his disappearance was given either. The 1978 film explained Steven Walls' lack of reaction to his rescuers' calls by an instruction given by his father never to talk to strangers. Perhaps young Hayden had a similar reason for not responding or it might have just been a toddler's natural shyness. Given the child's lack of stamina, he must have hidden to have evaded discovery for 96 hours. (A sudden thought: the rescuers might have found him more quickly by using their noses!)The gentry had turned up for a hunt but Rawdon Greene persuaded them to hunt for a far more precious quarry.

Carriers would have sometimes used dogs to guard their cargo while they slept or quenched their thirst at a wayside inn such as Tulip Wright's near the Deep Creek crossing. By chance a carrier had camped in a spot near Deep Creek, never before used by travellers and his dogs started a chorus of barking that could not be ignored. The tot was probably given a tot when taken to Tulip Wright's inn (presuming that was what was described as a gentle stimulant) and a warm bath helped to improve his condition. The tutor was notified and hurried off to Melbourne to bring Dr James Martin whose expertise helped the boy's recovery from his ordeal, especially the gangrene which had set in.
"Great praise is due to the gentlemen in the neighbourhood for their exertions, particularly Major Firebrace and Messrs R.Greene and Cogle (sic), who during the three days were constantly in the saddle in quest of the child; but to Dr Martin for his prompt and unremitting attention, may be mainly attributed the ultimate restoration to health of as fine a boy as ever engaged the affection of a parent."

MAN DISAPPEARS; SUSPICION OF MURDER.
This headline was not in any article seen but was implied, especially by the actions of the police. The man who disappeared (as detailed in my Franklinford Chronology) had an alias so he perhaps also felt a need to hide. No doubt Franklinford residents launched a search but it was bound to be fruitless as Brassey possessed far more mobility than the toddlers.
It has not yet been determined whether Franklinford had three stores or one store owned by William Bumstead (the venue for the 1862 inquest) and run by Charles Dyett in 1862 and Martin Minogue in 1867. Minogue wrote to the Mt Alexander Mail (Castlemaine)complaining about the police searching his store and digging up his garden, casting suspicion on him which affected his relationships in the community. Another poor fellow had been put in the Daylesford gaol for 40 days and nights on suspicion. Brassey had been found on a station up country by the police.
By 1882, Martin Minogue was a coach proprietor and drove his coach between Daylesford and Franklinford. Sounds rosey! However, as reported on page 12 of the Argus of 22-11-1882, Martin committed suicide by means of strychnine. He obtained some beer at Colquhonn's (sic)and took it home. His daughter would have been terrified when the poisoning became apparent. Martin explained that the Mail (contract) was not paying and his crops and land had all gone wrong.

Any new information found about Franklinford will be placed into this journal. It will mainly be concerned with locations and family connections.

A member of the Gervasoni family is running a website concerning the industrial heritage of the Ballarat region, which includes Franklinford.

Some genealogical websites have been mentioned previously. Any others that I discover will be listed in the brackets.
(MINOGUE, SARTORI, )

FAMILY CONNECTIONS will be listed in these brackets. Connections in the second set of brackets come only from the headstones list.
(PRICE-MINOGUE,ROBERTS-SWANSON, ROBERTSON-STRAWHORN, ROBERTS-WRIGHT(2), WRIGHT-DELMENBICO (Guildford),DOULE-DOOLAN, )
( HEADSTONES CORBEN-BARKER, CORBEN-GROVE, DOWNES-WHITLOCK, EBERY-SARTOTI, ELPHICK-PARKER, HARDING-NICHOLLS, HEFFORD-HARRIS, HENDERSON-SHRIVES, HIGGS-McKINNON, LECKIE-ROBERTSON, MARTIN-SCHAEFFER, McKINNON-WATERTON, McKINNON-GILLIES, PARRY-ROWLANDS, PHILLIPS, ROBERTS?, PHILIP-OSBORNE, PULLEN-SARTORI, SARTORI-JOHNSON, WOODWARD-WHIDBURN)

Thomas Price lived in Whybrow St; his house was called Auburn and was used as his mining company headquarters. Thomas married Julia E.Minogue and died at Auburn on 6-1-1904.Their only child was May. (Argus 16-1-1904 page 9 and other articles found on trove by googling Thomas Price.)

A goldfields heritage project in the area around Daylesford lists as site 45 the Minotti flour mill near the Jim Crow Creek on the Hepburn road. Guiseppi Pozzi was a partner in the mill.

ARGUS. 13-12-1918 PAGE 1. David Swanson's death notice shows that his sister was Mrs H.Roberts of Franklinford. They and other siblings named had probably grown up in Campbelltown (due west of Yandoit and just under 20 km from Franklinford) which was the residence of several, and their late parents, Mr and Mrs William Swanson.

ARGUS 8-4-1940 page 6. On 9-3-1940, Isobel Watson, youngest daughter of the late Mr and W.J.Strawhorn married James Wilkie, elder son of Mrs and the late J.W.Robertson of "The Mount" , Mt Franklin, at the Presbyterian church at Castlemaine. (The Strawhorns of "Mt Stuart" had bought Frank Dougall's homestead block at the same time as the Robertsons from Shepherd's Flat had bought an adjoining block of over 300 acres.This was yet another case, so common in farming communities, where neighbours married.)

ARGUS 20-5-1930 page 1. Hannah Vernon Roberts, who died in Geelong on 19-5-1930 was the wife of Llewellyn Roberts, formerly of Franklinford, , mother of Jessie and the fourth daughter of Reuben and Jessie Wright of Guildford.(See her brother, George Harvey Wright's death notice of 1936.)

ARGUS 15-9-1934 page 15. John Osborne of Sebastopol, obviously living with his daughter, and formerly of Franklinford, was the husband of the late Ruth Ann and father of Mrs William Dunn and Mrs P.M.Philips.

ARGUS 1-11-1865 page 7. THE GAZETTE.Samuel Woolmer Parker had been appointed to the school committee at Franklinford. As in many cases above, the second given name seems to be a pedigree clue.

ARGUS 4-12-1943 page 10. Peter Cope of Tallimba,N.S.W. dear little friend of the Doolans, had died in an accident at Franklinford.

ARGUS 5-3-1921 PAGE13. MISSING FRIENDS, MESSAGES. William Powell, Pentwyn Estate , Franklinford, had some good news for John Jones of England.

ARGUS24-3-1951 PAGE 23. There was to be a clearing sale on account of W.H.Phillip at Franklinford on 28 March.

ARGUS 31-3-1936 PAGE 1. The notice of George Harvey Wright's death at Cowra, N.S.W. shows that the other offspring of Reuben and Jessie Wright of Guildford were Annie, Margie?, Will, Lily (Mrs David Roberts), Dege? (deceased), Hannah Vernon (Mrs Llewellyn Roberts-deceased), Janie (Mrs Jack Powell) and Bena? (Mrs Charles Delmenico.) (Some names were hard to be sure of. I presume Charles Delmenico lived in Guildford. I believe the Delmenicos were running the Guildford pub in the mid 1960's. Kevin Delmenico, a Castlemaine star, moved to the big smoke to play with Footscray the year before Robbie Thompson went to the Bombers.

Just two asides, totally unrelated to Franklinford, but you might be interested.
Basketball is well established in Castlemaine but I bet nobody is aware of the contribution made by Geoff Bryce. He worked for the S.E.C. and was a dynamo who established basketball as a sport in Castlemaine. At that time there were probably a handful who had played the game, including Geoff, Jim Berry (a policeman who was tragically killed in a road accident) and myself. The first season, probably in 1966, was played on outside courts at St Mary's and wet weather found out who had exceptional ball-control. The next season we moved to the drill hall but the coat hooks on the wall had to be removed after my mid air flick to Robbie Ross resulted in me following through into the wall, inches from the hook. Those game enough to try refereeing had a steep learning curve.
Robbie Ross and David Broad were two of Castlemaine's young football champs while Derek Cowan was coaching the Maine. Robbie was a sensational, athletic full back but could not cope with Kyneton's Tarz Plowman; Tarz was so wide (in every direction) that even though Robbie flew about a metre higher, he could not reach the ball to spoil.
I coached High School in basketball and after a game one night David Broad invited me to a meeting of the Develop Castlemaine committee. I couldn't believe a youngster being so involved in community affairs. It did not surprise me to learn later that he became a Shire Secretary.

THE MERCURY (TAS.) 30-4-1910 page 8. Mrs Seamons of Franklinford won 2/6 by collecting Robur Tea coupons.

DOUGALL AND THE MOUNT FRANKLIN ESTATE.
It is likely then when Edward Stone Parker decided that Franklinford was the place for his aboriginal station, he was given a lease of a run, just as William Thomas was given the Tuerong Run on the Mornington Peninsula. It is likely that when the protectorate was abolished in 1848, or when the remaining aborigines were shuffled off to the Healesville Sanctuary site in 1864, the land was sold off by the Government. Edward Stone Parker would have been entitled to a pre-emptive right (640 acres or thereabouts per parish circa 1848 but probably less in 1864 because of land acts.) It seems that the alienation of the area near Franklinford occurred soon after 1848. G.Browne had established a property called Kildare and offered it for sale on page 1 of the Argus of 4-9-1862, because he was leaving the colony.
In 1913, 607 acres of the estate was offered for sale by W.F.Dougall, and the remaining 576 acres was to be offered for lease later on. This means that the Mt Franklin Estate then consisted of 1183 acres.(Argus 19-7-1913 page 2.) In 1923, it was incorrectly stated in one advertisement that the Dougalls had been on the Mt Franklin Estate for 60 years (Argus 19-11-1923 page 16, where acreages also appear to be wrong.) The Parkers were still on the estate in 1865. The advertisement on page 3 of the Argus of 16-6-1923 seems to be more precise regarding their tenure (50 years) and the acreages of the various lots.

The following surnames occur in the end section of the original FRANKLINFORD journal after the section covered by FRANKLINFORD 1-4. They were listed in FRANKLINFORD 5 and FRANKLINFORD 6, which, for some unexplained reason, were "under review".

ROOTSWEB HALLINAN-L HALLINAN ALSO IN VICTORIA.
I stumbled on this website while trying to determine if Patrick Molloy had remarried.
From: "Melanie Hallinan"
Subject: Hallinan also in Victoria
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 11:37:05


Hello Malcolm and Lyn,

It was really interesting to read you letter. I will keep my eyes open for
anything that may be of use to you.

My first Hallinan ancestor was THOMAS Hallinan. He and his wife CATHERINE
Keating came to Australia from Co. Clare. On the shipping papers it says
Thomas was from Ennistimon Co. Clare and a miner. Catherine was from Inagh,
Co. Clare. They also arrived with their 2 children John aged 4 and Bridget
an infant. I don't know much of what came happened to John and Bridget. They
all arrived in 1851 on the Sarah into Sydney and had another daughter named
Catherine, she died aged 3. They then had a son named Michael Hallinan who
is my gr. gr. grandfather.

Michael was born in Victoria in 1856, at the goldfields in Bendigo. Thomas
was a miner there. His wife Catherine died aged 35. The family had a hut at
Sailors Gully, Sandhurst (the old name for Bendigo). Rates records state
that they had a hut and stables. I don't know much about what this means on
the wealth side of things.

As an adult MICHAEL married Elizabeth Molloy b. 1865. in Yandoit, Vic (near
Daylesford).They married 21st August 1889. Thanks to a wonderful lady I met
via one of these email groups I now have a copy of their wedding
certificate.

Michael and Elizabeth had a farm at Kerang and there they raised 9 children.
PATRICK my gr. grandfather was the 3rd born in 1893. Most of their children
stayed in the area I think.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FOLLOWING COMES FROM JOHN HUTCHINSON'S POST ON THE DYETT-RANCE FAMILIES. CHARLES NORTON DYETT WAS A KEY WITNESS IN THE BRUTAL MURDER CASE OF 1862.
4. Charles Norton DYETT (Charles Norton DYETT2, John DYETT1) was born 1 AUG 1832 in Holy Trinity Kingston upon Hull, was christened 13 AUG 1834 in Holy Trinity Kingston upon Hull, and died 27 AUG 1901 in 97 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne. He married Sarah HOCTOR 10 AUG 1857 in Mt Franklin Victoria, daughter of John HOCTOR and Mary MALLOY. She was born 1838 in Tipperary Ireland, and died 8 APR 1875 in Franklinford Victoria Australia. He married Margaret RANKIN 11 AUG 1883 in West Hotham, daughter of Duncan RANKIN. She was born 1856, and died 1914.

Children of Charles Norton DYETT and Sarah HOCTOR are:
+ 6 i. Charles Norton DYETT was born 20 MAY 1858 in Mt Raglan Victoria.
+ 7 ii. John William DYETT was born 11 JUL 1860, and died in Adelaide South Australia.
+ 8 iii. Benjamin Patrick DYETT was born 1863 in Yandoit Victoria, and died 1936 in Bendigo Victoria.
9 iv. Frederick Thomas DYETT was born 1865 in Daylesford Victoria, and died 1867 in Died of Accidental Burns.
+ 10 v. Frederick Thomas DYETT was born 1868 in Shepherds Victoria, and died 1921 in Broken Hill.
11 vi. Hannah Mary DYETT was born 1871 in Franklinford Victoria, and died 3 NOV 1934 in Falkner Cemetary Victoria. She married Alfred Edward TAYLOR 1898 in Franklinford Victoria.
12 vii. Martha Josephine DYETT was born 1873 in Shepherds Victoria. She married John Skinner MELROSE 1899 in Franklinford Victoria.
It is possible that the C.N.Dyett's first wife was related to the pioneers near Broadmeadows and his second wife was related to John Rankin who lived at the corner of Macaulay and Rankins Rds at Kensington.
------------------------------------------- ---------------------
YANDOIT STATE SCHOOL.


It seems to me that the histories of Franklinford and Yandoit cannot be considered in isolation so in closing I'll include a bit about Yandoit State School which probably gave John and Cameron Morrison a clearance just to keep Franklinford's Boys' College going for a few more years.

Star, Ballarat, 3-12-1861 page 1s. Subscription lists had been issued to raise 50 pounds to build a National School schoolhouse. This building was ready for replacement 27 years later (A. 26-10-1888 page 7.)

Wodonga and Towong Sentinel, 1-2-1889 page 3. CORRYONG. G.E.S.Robinson was leaving on promotion to Yandoit.

A. 20-5-1899 page 5. G.E.Seaborne Robinson's son was stillborn.

A. 22-1-1914 page 10. Mr Francis was leaving Yandoit for Wail. (What a crying shame!)

A. 7-3-1933. Kenneth Charles Stevens had died on the 5th at the Ballara Private Hospital at Castlemaine, aged 4. His parents were Vernon and Emmie Stevens of Yandoit S.S. Vernon's parents James and Elizabeth lived in Guildford and Emmie's parents were Frances Cave of Werona and the late Charles Cave.Vernon and Emmie's other children were Verna and Lindsay.
A. 18-9-1936 page 6. Yandoit S.S. won many awards for fodder crops.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINS OF STREET NAMES.
MILL ST possibly got its name because of Pozzi's, or an earlier miller's, flour mill.
MORRISON, FLEMING, STRAWHORN, SARTORI and probably CLARKE are streets named after pioneers.
WHYBROW and LIGAR Streets are both named after the Surveyor General, Charles Whybrow Ligar.
STUART could come from the Strawhorn property Mt Stuart or be a mistaken spelling of James Stewart's name.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Well, not quite. I thought I'd add a few more snippets because this cat doesn't believe that old saying. All articles and notices following are from the Argus.

The accident-prone Phillips family lived on Kangar Farm which would have been all or part of Richard Molloy's Kangar Park. Lucy, Robert Phillips' eldest daughter, was 20 when she sustained the burns from which she died, about six weeks later, in the Castlemaine Hospital. (21-7-1914 page 12.)

There is a photo of Gavan, 2, and Kelvin, 4. sons of Mr and Mrs Will Doolan of "Waverly", Franklinford, on page 6s of the Argus of 7-5-1947.Will was a good singer and received an honorable mention in the Bendigo competition in 1938.

Charles Menzies' widow, Ellen applied for probate of his will (A. 3-3-1877 page 8.)

A fire broke out in the Scheggia Bros. paddock near the Franklinford Cemetery. (A. 26-1-1933 page 11.)
Prudent Scheggia was killed when he was thrown from his horse, leaving a widow and eight daughters. (A. 22-9-1936 page 14.)

Martin Minogue, a farmer and storekeeper of Franklinford, was insolvent. (A. 23-8-1870 page 5.)

Gregory J. and Reginald A. Thomas of Franklinford had displeased the tax man.(A. 2-5-1921 page 9.)

Major T.Templeton, 4th Battalion, Victorian Mounted Rifles, was thrown from his horse when it stumbled near Guildford as he rode from Franklinford to attend a parade in Castlemaine. He was the teacher at Franklinford and President of the Fifth Class Teachers' Castlemaine Branch. 30-7 and 18-11-1889.

No doubt Franklinford residents took more care where they were walking after this snippet appeared in the paper! Robert Morris, a threshing machine operative, fell down a mine shaft when fighting a fire in a paddock of thistles. (24-1-1905.) Hopefully the thistles were not the legacy of William Campbell!

Mrs Marsh of Franklinford had provided the only fresh information about the Yandoit outrage. 7-10-1886 page 6. William Marsh died intestate on 2-10-1891. 19-2-1892 page 3.

Ann Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Ambrose Draper, and Frederick Langton Simmons of Dunolly were married at the Draper residence at Franklinford by a Wesleyan minister. 6-4-1866 page 4. I wonder if Simmons was a member of the family after which Simmons Reef at Blackwood was named.

William Strawhorn, born in Coburg, who came to Franklinford in about 1998. had died. He had been a member of the Daylesford Agricultural Society and Presbyterian Church. 30-3-1938 page 6.

An apology was tendered to Mr Fleming , ex sergeant of police, who had been blamed for a fatal incident in Daylesford when it was a policeman in that town with the same surname. Mr Fleming had been for a considerable time settled at Franklinford as a farmer. 3-10-1862 page 7. Mr Fleming was President of Mt Franklin Shire in the boom year of 1888, when a spider's web of railways was developing. He took the chair at the meeting where it was moved by JAMES MORRISON and seconded by CR. RICHETTO* that a line be built from Daylesford to pass through Yandoit and join the Castlemaine-Maryborough line at Strangways. Some wanted the line to go farther west through Dry Diggings but the motion was passed. 4-5-1988 page 11.

* I SPENT HOURS TRYING TO FIND ANY OTHER MENTION OF THIS PERSON, TO NO AVAIL. A DR ROSETTA WAS ELECTED TO COUNCIL SO IT WAS PROBABLY CR ROSETTA.

John Winter, a Franklinford farmer, hanged himself. 26-4-1892 page 6. There is a complete lack of mentions of the Franklinford Winter family on trove apart from the following, on page 2 of the Kyabram Union of 1892. James Winter of Franklinford, , an old resident, had made three attempts at suicide,by hanging, cutting his throat and choking himself. This may have been John, given that Franklinford was described as being near Dalesford. Otherwise the family's favourite sport seems to have been self-destruction. The only references to Winter (apart from millions of entries concerning the coldest season)concerned a Castlemaine butcher and a teacher at Sandon. By 1857, Williams and Winter were butchers at Castlemaine, a horse belonging to them having been stolen from the paddock known as Winters Flat. Considering that Castlemaine has such a great history, its wiki is pathetic regarding history, not even mentioning the origins of Winters Flat and Wesley Hill. George Winter, headteacher at Sandon, who was burnt by an exploding stove (Argus, 5-2-1937 page 4), may have also been related to Winter of Franklinford.

Franklinford resident, Edgar Doolan, aged about 40 and a married man with children, was killed at Yandoit. A blacksmith he was helping three men to remove a hopper they had purchased from the Steele's Pioneer Reef Mine when the fatal accident occurred. 22-6-1912 page 25. (Because of his given name, I wonder if the Doolans and Morrisons were related by marriage.) Francis Doolan had become engaged. 7-10-1939 page 8.

Charles Judkins, who had been at the aboriginal station for many years, had died just like his boss after a long and painful illness borne with Christian fortitude . It would be a fair bet that this wording came from Joseph Parker! 16-9-1864 page 4.

Mr and Mrs Quine were farewelled at the Mt Prospect hall. They were moving to Franklinford where they had leased Mr Frank Dougall's Mt Franklin Estate. 26-2-1914 page 11. (Mt Prospect must have been reasonably close to Franklinford because Father Slattery who built the R.C. church at the latter in 1863, while he was at Daylesford, started building a church at Mt Prospect before leaving for Geelong in 1870. (I had to check. It is about halfway between Daylesford and Creswick near the Midlands Highway.)

Mr Hugget, still a resident of German's Gully, south of Yandoit, made a significant discovery there in about 1858. 26-10-1888 page 11. This article also described the difficulty Mr T.Price, an old Franklinford resident, had in raising funds for his mining venture. His name was Tom, as I found later, and my heart skipped a beat as I thought of Mt Tom Price. Unfortunately this mine was named after the Vice President of an American steel company, not our Franklinford pioneer.

Miss Alice Mary Sartori was entertained at Franklinford on the eve of her wedding to Mr A.MacLaren. 7-4-1938 page 12.

William Strawhorn, farmer of Franklinford left real estate valued at 4045 pounds and personal property worth 873 pounds. 3-5-1938 page 2.

DANGEROUS JIM CROW CREEK. You may have scoffed at the reference, in the chronology, to the coach being unable to cross this creek and the passengers having to spend the night at Yandoit. Two men were crossing the creek in a buggy when the horse lost its footing. One of the men made it to the bank but the other, and the buggy, were swept rapidly downstream. Some miners came to the rescue. 17-12-1860 page 6.

T.Manning of Franklinford won a prize for his 3 year old draught horse at the Daylesford Show. 21-11-1908 page 18.

Grasshoppers were threatening potato crops. 10-1-1935 page 5.

Mary and Tom Powell of Franklinford S.S. won every event in their sections at the Daylesford and District Sports. 9-1-1937 page 13.

Mr Parry of Parry-Roberts the well-known prize butter makers of Franklinford has been appointed manager of the Daylesford Butter Factory. Tenders have been let for the building of the factory and creameries at Glenlyon and Franklinford. 17-8-1892 page 6. (A lengthy letter from W.Roberts of Franklinford, possibly Miss W.Roberts, entitled HOW TO MAKE GOOD BUTTER appeared on page 4 of The Capricornian of 24-10-1896. Miss W. Roberts of Franklinford had won the champion prize at the Melbourne Agricultural Show for fresh butter in 1886. South Australian Advertiser 26-8-1886 page 5.)

NEWSPAPERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY COPIED STORIES FROM OTHER NEWSPAPERS, SO NEWS ABOUT FRANKLINFORD CAN OFTEN BE FOUND IN INTERSTATE PAPERS.

EMPIRE (SYD.)16-9-1874 page 3.Willy, 11, son of James K.Gilmore,was killed on the road between the lime kilns and Franklinford. Gilmore who lived near the lime kilns was returning home with a cart load of potatoes that he had obtained in Yandoit. After having to unload them when he became bogged and get a second, frisky, horse to extract the cart, he started to reload his cargo but the frisky horse caused the cart to overturn crushing the boy's skull. Willy was taken to Castlemaine in Mr Menzies' buggy but died minutes after admission. (The lime kilns were obviously not near the one on the west side of Limestone Creek mentioned previously in regard to the naming of Patrick Molloy's "Limestone" at Yandoit if the accident happened on the road to Franklinford.)

CORNWALL CHRONICLE (Launceston, started by J.P.Fawkner.)5-7-1869 page 3. Richard Horseman did not die for a while after his suicide attempt and made the following statement. I, Richard Horseman, state that I have contemplated self-destruction for some time past and that I was tired of my life. I had the gun loaded for three weeks previous, and on this morning I sent my wife on a message to Patrick Mahony, in order to get an opportunity to shoot myself in her absence. I placed a strap on the trigger and fastened it to a piece of wood in the partition. I caught hold of the barrel, placed its muzzle against my breast and discharged it, thereby causing the wounds from which I now suffer.

THE AUSTRALIAN NEWS FOR HOME READERS.25-6-1864 page 16. The prospectus for the formation of a tramway from Taradale via Fryer's, Kangaroo, Franklinford etc to Creswick, with a branch line from Franklinford to Daylesford is being prepared.

LAUNCESTON EXAMINER. 2-12-1869 page 3. Mr Joseph Parker of Franklinford is the fortunate competitor for the Town Clerkship of the Borough of Guildford. He is contracted to perform the duties of clerk, assessor, collector of dog tax and rates, inspector of thistles and nuisances, revenue officer and surveyor for 70 pounds per annum.

SOUTH BOURKE AND MORNINGTON JOURNAL. 27-5-1885 page 2. Mrs Dempsey of Franklinford won a prize in the art union (big raffle) to raise funds for a presbytery at the Roman Catholic Church at Dandenong. (Every parish was probably given tickets to sell.Father Patrick Joseph Slattery had built the Roman Catholic Church at Franklinford in 1863 according to his biography.)

LAUNCESTON EXAMINER 6-9-1897 page 3. Tom Price, an old Franklinford resident, did manage to start a company circa 1860, and its head office was going to stay at Franklinford no matter what the far-flung shareholders thought. I will not even try to summarise the comical events that occurred during this meeting, which resulted in a take-over by the Maldon push. You've got to read the article!

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER. 26-1-1894 page 7. The Franklinford mines must have attracted very capable managers. Mr W.G.Williams, who had been manager of the Golgonda Quartz mine (in German Gully, resulting from the discovery of Mr Hugget, who had found the Golgonda line in about 1858 and still lived in the gully 30 years later) and other mines, had been appointed manager of the New Charlotte mine in Coolgardie, W.A.

STAR (BALLARAT)27-5-1862 page 1s. YANDOIT. Mr Pozzi, owner of a billiards room, had been fined 50 pounds for selling sly grog, No initial was supplied so we don't know whether it was the miller of Franklinford or one of his two brothers who became wine sellers at Daylesford.