GRANTEES NEAR RED HILL, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA (and Alfred Downward.) :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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GRANTEES NEAR RED HILL, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA (and Alfred Downward.)

Journal by itellya

The map, which I'll enlarge when my computer genius sons next visit, covers the area shown on Melway maps 159-161,171 and 190-1. (Incidentally, while working this out, I discovered Tar Barrel Corner, Melway 191 F4, about which janilye's question prompted my Red Hill journal.) I used a tourist map as my base; it showed only main roads so I had to estimate the course of creeks and roads such as McIlroys, Callanans, Whites etc which form (as closely as terrain permits) crown allotment boundaries. The courses of roads on the base map are not very accurate so some allotments are not the right shape on my map.
As stated in the Red Hill Pioneers journal, the area now in Red Hill and Red Hill South is located in three parishes, Kangerong, Balnarring and a small part of Wannaeue which was called Red Hill and Main Creek. The boundaries of these parishes, indicated by K, B AND W, are shown with double lines.I will list the grantees, starting at the top left corner of the appropriate part of each parish and reading left to right. The grantee's name is followed by a number which is rounded off to the nearest acre and a date if it is on the parish map.

BALNARRING. See Tubbarubba journal for updates re Alf Downward's grants.
All the land, almost 1000 acres, bounded by Bulldog Creek, Foxeys, Tubbarubba, and Myers Rds was granted to Alfred Downward, possibly in about 1905 when he bought another block inside the curve of Myers Rd just to the south. Alf was a popular member of parliament being often called upon to achieve aims such as improvements to the stockyards at Moorooduc Station. Rye often enlisted his support but Downward and Albress were obviously two words the pupils did not learn to spell, being rendered as Downard and Albas.The area that Alf bought north of Myers Rd had formerly been part of the Tubbarubba diggings which had been reserved from alienation at the request of locals.
The diggings provided a livelihood for many in the late 1880's when Bernard Eaton, brother of the late Watson and probably father of Maude, started operations and during the 1890's depression when the Moat boys found evidence that could not be produced at the 1874 "Schnapper Point" Murder trial, so named because the trial was held at Mornington although the murder occurred at the diggings.
Alf, who had earlier lived in Tasmania,according to Joan Downward, first bought land on the western side of Wilson Rd in Mornington. He acquired it in 10 acre lots, the grantee PRICKMAN ( a hard name to forget) or a later owner having subdivided it. Alf called his property Redwood because of the redwood gums (the correct name)that grew there. Balcombe of The Briars owned the land between Redwood and Strachans Rd and he or a later owner called it Redgum Flat! The redgums are a botanical curiosity because until the homestead 10 acres was put up for sale by Alf's elderly daughters (Miss Downward and Mrs Pitt after whom streets were named)and locals requested protection for the trees, botanists had not known of any redgums growing south of Frankston.
Alf Downward's election to parliament was disputed and among the witnesses who testified at the inquiry was Thomas Gomm of Dromana who drowned a few years later in 1898. He was the son of Convict Henry Gomm and the brother of Rosebud's Harry ("of whom little is known" according to LIME LAND LEISURE) and William of Hastings, none of them related to Somerville's Henry Gomm, although they had him surrounded.
South of Myers Rd.
80B, A.Downward, 44, 1905. 80A, J.Oswin, 83, 4-7-1888. 15. J.Journeaux, 308, 2-11-1882. 14A, J.Davey, 122, 20-1-74. 14BC.Fooks, 122, 21-7-74. 79A, J.Davey 129, possibly 1874. 79B, G.Sherwood, 129, 29-11-72. 55,J.Oswin 2x140, A.4-8-74, B.25-8-72. 78A, W.Gibson, 190, 22-7-74. 78B,J.B.Journeaux, 95, 22-6-77. 78B2 and 54A, J.Smith, 255, 4-5-85. 54B, A.Duff, 169, 12-11-73.
To Mornington-Flinders Rd/Arthurs Seat Rd corner.
72A, R.H.Holding, 140, 20-2065. 72B, J.Pitcher, 140, 8-7-68. 73 AB, 215, no date. 74, Red Hill Village-see Pioneers journal. 77,88, W.Aitken, 305, 10-4-81. 81,82A, J.R.Thompson, no acreage, 18-2-74. 82B, 83A1, B.Tonkin, 275, 27-7-75. 82B1, J.Hindmarsh, 61, 14-3-71. 82BB1, 64, 27-7-75. T.Attenborough, mentioned in the Pioneers journal had lots 53 and 52 which both extended from the line of Tonkins Rd to Merricks Rd, a total of 544 acres, 16-12-71.
Back to Mornington-Flinders Rd.(5th time lucky!)
71A, A.Head, 83, 26-5-84. 71B, A.Head, 117, 5-6-74.
75A, J.McConnell, 182, no date. 75B, J.McConnell, 122, 2-6-71.
89A, J.Simpson, 142, 8-3-84. 89B, W.Bayne, 142, 8-9-80.
87-85, J.Buchanan, 1040, first part in 1872. The Wightons, mentioned in the Pioneers journal, then had 710 acres whose north east corner was the Thompsons/Meyrick Rd corner. J.Palmer had lot 51 of 281 acres, fronting Merricks Rd, between the Wightons and Attenborough (no date.)
Back to Mornington-Flinders Rd.
&0 AB, W.Hopcraft 178. 69A, M.Byrne 93. 69B, F.Bullock, 97, 6-10-75. 60AB, A.Allan, 117. 67AB, E.Gray, 107. 66A, George Wilson, 40, 24-2-82. Quarry 2 ac. Military purposes, gazetted 1889, 20 ac. 66B and 65, Helen Bayne (spinster!) 140 , lot 65 14-3-81. 90, 91, J&J Bayne, 322, 4-7-79. 92, J.Buchanan, 107. 93-6, William Roy, 514, 9-1-79, 64A, J.Bayne, 70, 16-3-81. 97,98 J.R.Thompson,251, 24-8-69.
Much land near the coast was granted to Alex Wighton, J.Palmer and Thomas Hamilton.

KANGERONG.(EAST OF WHITE HILLS RD TO BOUNDARY RD.)Dates generally not clear but those that are will be given in the Pioneers journal.
As well as enlarging my map, I will also have to correct it. George Peatey's grants are shown as being at the east corner of White Hill Rd, but they were actually at the east corner of Harrisons Rd. The land between White Hills and Harrisons Rds (north of the recreation reserve, the old racecourse) was granted to William Moat. Moats Corner (Melway 160 H5)is a very historic location name. Incidentally, the name is pronounced as Mowatt.
27a, 27c,George Peatey, 101. 27?,Alf Harrison, 63. 26a,James Clydesdale, 43?, 26b and 25a, W.J.McIlroy 350.
25b, L.N.Matheson, 119.
Not shown on map; between Dunns Ck and Myers-JunctionRds: 24, C.Downward, 116? 24b, Andrew Fritsch,103.
27? and 20c, Thomas Appleyard,429. 20b, S.L.Loxton, 106. 20a, W.Kemp, 100. The parish map is so hard to read that I accidentally called the allotments east of Loxton and Kemp 26 on the map; it should be 21.
21a, C.Counsel, 121. 21b, Robert Coxon Young (he of the 5 roomed house)121. ??a,b, J.Davey, 156. William McIlroy, 150.
Eaton's Cutting Rd, the somewhat scary link with Dromana takes its name from Watson Eaton, the area's amateur doctor, who settled on 150 acres west of the Red Hill end of the road before his death in 1877, resulting from a fall while riding to attend to a patient. This land was granted to his executor, Rebecca Griffith who was not his sister, as I had earlier supposed. Its northerly and westerly extent is shown by the Dromana boundary, the bend being its north western corner.
Between Eaton's Cutting Rd and White Hill/Sheehans Rd: 9, Charles Golding(cordial manufacturer)263, 18-4-1890,
10A George Sherwood,172? ac, 10-2-1856?, 10 B, Robert Caldwell, 172 ac., 10-1-1868?

18A (S.E. cnr White Hills and McIlroys Rd),(shown as H) Henry Dunn, 50, "Four Winds". 18c (shown as C), S.P.Calder (son of the C.R.B. chairman and Red Hill Show Committee President if I remember my trove correctly), 22?, R.Ringrose (south of Calder and Dunn, 59ac F.E. (Frances?) Windsor 17 a,b,154 ac (plus 23 ac at the north end of 13 straddling the creek), 16A, T.Milner88 ac., 11-12-1862, 16B W.McIlroy 88 ac, 15B, J.Holmes & Co.105 ac., 1872? 15A, J.Holmes, 105 ac., 8-7-1887?
CLOCKWISE BACK TO SHEEHANS RD.14B, W.McIlroy, 103 ac., 1864, 14 A, ditto, 103 ac, 1890?, 13 AB, Margaret Davies, 130 ac., 1877?, 12ab, J.Arkwell, 2x 71 1/2 ac., 1862 and 1870?, 11AB, J.Wiseman, 43 and 93 ac?

William Calder owned Four Winds, which was sold in 1929 following his death. Ringrose was an early pioneer and seems to have arrived 1864-5.

WANNAEUE GRANTEES.
29, Ben Hards, 371 acres, probably 1860's, 28A, James Davey Jr, 159 ac, 5-9-1878 (see DAVEY journal), 28B John Griffith,136 ac., 4-5?-1885, 27A, Robert James,160 ac., 6-4-1897?, 27B1, John Hopcraft, 86 ac, 1-2-94 (see below). Land further south was generally considered to be Main Ridge and was mainly granted to the Shand and Brady families, the latter's homestead being called Mt Evergreen. The Shand steam saw mill provided packing cases and probably employment to the hill men.
Between Main Creek and Purves Rds, early grantees included Professor Hearn of Heronswood and lime merchant, W.A.Blair, but William Hillis (see Davey journal) was part of the fabric of Red Hill.On the other side of Purves Rd, the descendants of [b}Peter Purves, the unsung pioneer of the Tootgarook Run had Green Hills, and several other properties of which they were grantees.
William Hopcraft lived across Mornington Flinders Rd from John Hopcraft. In about 1878, Robert Adams was farming, on license from the Crown, in the angle of this road and Tucks Rd and one of the Sawyers of Moorooduc/Bittern parishes was just south of John Hopcraft. Little surprise that the Hopcrafts were related by marriage to the Sawyers and Adams families! If you wanted the death notice for the mother of the Sawyer children fathered by Isaac Sawyer, it would be useless entering Sawyer on trove. Try Renouf and discover the link with the Prosser and Griffith families!

by itellya Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2012-01-06 07:36:54

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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Comments

by janilye on 2012-01-06 16:21:21

I know exactly how you feel. I gave up on writing a couple of good stories because it happened to me. Now I type everything out in 'word' first then copy and paste it into here.
To cheer you up here's an article from The Mornington Standard who's very motto tells us they were not risk takers contrary to this piece of journalism which turned out to be prophetic.

by itellya on 2012-01-06 18:56:07

The key factor in taking advantage of the agricultural possibilities was the provision of railways. Many small farmers such as the Cairns of Boneo and Maroolaba at Fingal operated their farms only on a subsistence level, with underground mutton supplementing the fruit, vegetables and dairy products. Hill Harry Cairns and the Pattersons supplied chaff for the Sorrento cabbies but farmers in that area no doubt threatened a boycott of Stringer's store if their produce was not preferred.
Lime was not perishable and lime craft were plentiful, courtesy of W.A.Blair, Ben Stenniken and John Cain and the area including Moorooduc, Dromana and Red Hill derived steady income from the provision of timber for piers and firewood. Alfred Jones, whose family moved to Canada when he was 12, teamed up with two fellow Canadians after a brief stint at the diggings to provide Melbourne with firewood, which was loaded onto the "Liverpool", anchored a mile offshore at Canadian Bay.He rented land at Baxter's Flat for the last half of the 1850's and then established the Almond Bush Stud at Somerville, where street names recall Alf and his farm.. The Bentons supplied beams for the Schnapper Point pier and Peter Pidota carried Arthurs Seat timber for piers that was conveyed to Sheepwash Creek by bullockies such as George McLear.
The delays caused by contrary winds etc were not a problem with timber and lime but could ruin farmers and fishermen whose produce was perishable. Some respite for fishermen was provided when the railway reached Queenscliffe and when the railway came to Mornington Jimmy "the Squid" Williams and others conveyed fish to the Mornington Railhead (Near Coles ) early in the morning. The same line and the line through Somerville was a boon to the orchardists and nursery men such as the Two Bays Nursery near Moorooduc Crossing (where Mrs Firth died in a tragic comedy of errors in the early 1920's, reported within days as far away as Queensland)and the Caldwells, Brunnings and Shepherds etc at Somerville. The Caldwells were the first to export fruit trees to China!
Unfortunately these lines were of little use to Red Hill but the next boom, circa 1920 saw the formation of a Railway League, composed mainly of Red Hill residents but meeting at the Dromana Mechanics' Institute, which was unsure whether to include Sorrento in its petition. Moorooduc residents wanted to have the Sorrento extension start from there, pointing out that the route would be (13?) miles shorter than one through Red Hill. The Shire of Flinders rates of 1919-20 show that there was actually a Railway Estate at Dromana, bounded by Palmerstone Ave, Jetty Rd and Boundary Rd. Red Hill did eventually get its line, as detailed in LIME LAND LEISURE, but little is left to recall the fact except for Station Rd.

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