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TWO KINGS WHO WERE PIONEERS OF ROSEBUD, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

Journal by itellya

WE TWO KINGS OF RO-OSE-BUD ARE.
My Lacco/ Durham journals mention that the relationship between the two families was due to Elizabeth Lacco and Emily Durham being sisters, as revealed by a death notice for Elizabeth that was obviously inserted by Emily in 1934. This morning I consulted Victorian BDM of which I knew nothing until recently, and after five hours research I had discovered much more than was in the said journals but all of my findings were lost when I submitted. However I will paste key documents here.

LACCO.—On the 6th August, passed peacefully
away at Rosebud, Elizabeth, wife of the
late Fort Lacco, beloved mother of Mary, John
(deceased), Christie (deceased), Annie, Emily,
Mitchell, Margaret, grandmother of Bobby,
Lucy, Edna, Kenneth, Harold, Alick, George,
and Gwen, great-grandmother of Douglas aged
[?] years, a colonist of 77 years. —At rest.

LACCO.—On the 6th August, passed peace-
fully away, at Rosebud, Elizabeth Lacco, dearly
loved sister of Emily, Ellen, Clara and the
late William King. —Peace, perfect peace.
(Both P.1, Argus, 7-8-1934.)

ELIZABETH'S DEATH RECORD.
This indicates that Elizabeth was aged about 2 when the Kings arrived circa 1857. As it was about 56 years since Elizabeth's father's death, the informant can be excused for getting his given name wrong.

EventDeath Event registration number16170 Registration year1934
Personal information
Family nameLACCO Given namesElizabeth SexFemale Father's nameKING John Mother's nameUnknown (Unknown) Place of birth Place of deathDROMANA Age79

ELIZABETH AND EMILY'S FATHER.
EventDeath Event registration number11527 Registration year1878
Personal information
Family nameKING Given namesWilliam Elijah SexUnknown Father's nameElijah Mother's nameSarah (Unknown) Place of birthLOND Place of death Age48 Spouse's family nameLANE Spouse's given namesElizabeth

FATAL ACCIDENT.
Dr. Youl, the city coroner, hold an inquest
on Thursday at Heidelberg concerning the
death of William E. King, a labourer, aged
48 years, who died from injuries received
through being thrown out of a cart at Heidel-
berg on Monday last. From the evidence
it appeared that the deceased was driving a
spring-cart loaded with furniture through
Heidelberg on Monday evening, and
.whilst crossing the water channel near
the Roman Catholic Church he was
jerked out of the vehicle, and fell on to
the road upon his head. When picked up
he was bleeding from a wound at the back of
the head, but was perfectly sensible. He
was assisted to a house close at hand, where
he died the following morning from the effects
of the injuries he had sustained. The jury
returned a verdict that the deceased died
from the effects of an accidental fall.
(P.3, Argus, 27-12-1878.)

EMILY'S BIRTH RECORD.
EventBirth Event registration number19395 Registration year1861
Personal information
Family nameKING Given namesEmily Trin SexUnknown Father's nameWilliam Elijah Mother's nameElizabeth Beckworth (Lane) Place of birthSANDRIDGE

There is no birth record for Elizabeth because she was about two years old when the King family arrived circa 1957. William's birth record cannot be found. Although he was the last sibling named in Elizabeth Lacco's death notice, he, like Elizabeth, might have been born before the family's arrival in Victoria.
Like Emily, Ellen and Clara King were born at Sandridge, in 1864 and 1870.

ELIZABETH'S MARRIAGE RECORD.
EventMarriage Event registration number1453 Registration year1872
Personal information
Family nameKING Given namesElizabeth SexFemale Spouse's family nameTELO Spouse's given namesFote

Thanks to TONKIN, I knew better than to search for the marriage by entering Fort Lacco. Weird spellings of his name had disappeared by the time of Annie Lacco's birth at Queenscliff in 1879 but it's going to be fun finding the death records of the first three children mentioned in Elizabeth's death record, namely Mary, John (deceased), and Christie (deceased). Emily Christina was born at Dromana in 1880, while Patrick Mitchell (1883) and Margaret Elizabeth (1886) were born at Carlton, where Elizabeth's widowed mother, Elizabeth, nee Lane, might have been living.

EMILY'S TWO MARRIAGES.
The great grandfather of Judith Mavis Cock (Judith Durham of The Seekers) was also a Greek fisherman like Fort Lacco and registrars had even more difficulty spelling his name.
EventMarriage Event registration number3393 Registration year1882
Personal information
Family nameKING Given namesEmily SexFemale Spouse's family namePANWTEO Spouse's given namesDimitri Antoni

EventMarriage Event registration number5814 Registration year1887
Personal information
Family nameDURHAM Given namesFrancis William SexMale Spouse's family namePUNWETO Spouse's given namesEmily

DEATH OF EMILY'S SECOND HUSBAND?
EventDeath Event registration number7854 Registration year1893
Personal information
Family nameDURHAM Given namesFrank Wm SexMale Father's nameFrank Mother's nameFanny Elizabeth (Unknown) Place of birth Place of deathSt Kilda Age50

William Francis Durham and Emily (King) had the following children:
Frank William (b. and d. 1889), Frank Richard (1890, d. 1943?), Henry Joseph* (1892, d. 1963.)

*Wondering whether Emily had raised the two surviving boys and if they were involved at Rosebud, I remembered that there was a Durham assessment at Rosebud which, because of the initials, could not be linked AT THAT TIME to Emily or her son, Anthony. Luckily this assessment was in my original transcriptions of assessments, not hidden as a side note in special investigations of particular people and properties. In 1919, J.H.Durham's assessment was listed out of alphabetical order, indicating that he had recently bought his block from somebody with the surname of Freeman, perhaps F.E.Freeman (maybe Emma Flora Freeman, born 1880 to Robert Henry and Mary Jane Adams, who married George Freeman in 1903.) F.E.Freeman was assessed on lot 29, section A and 29 section B, part crown allotment 19 Wannaeue, net annual value 4 pounds. The next assessment was:
J.H.DURHAM,LOT 24 SECTION A, PART CROWN ALLOTMENT 19 WANNAEUE, NET ANNUAL VALUE 3 POUNDS.

Captain Henry Everest Adams had purchased c/a 19 Wannaeue between Parkmore Rd and Adams Avenue, from the grantee, his friend Isaac White before the first assessment in 1864. His son, Robert sold the 191 acres to William Tetley in about April 1889. Tetley subdivided the land south to South Rd, Rosebud's second private subdivision following Woolcott's subdivision of c/a 17 (between Jetty Rd and the line of Norm Clark Walk) circa 1878. Tetley numbered his half acre blocks 1 to 29 from Govt.Road (Parkmore Rd)to Adams Avenue with section A blocks fronting "Government 3 chain road" (Pt Nepean Rd)and section B blocks fronting Rosemore Road. There were seven blocks of about 4 acres south of Rosemore Road. (Land Plan 3513.)

Flora Freeman's lots 29 AB fronted Adams Avenue. The surveyor or Melway don't quite agree that there are 29 chain frontages between Parkmore Road and Adams Avenue, they being 31 chains apart on Melway. J.H.Durham's lot 24 section A was about 20 metres west of a point directly opposite the drive into Tom Salt Park, just before the divided road ends in Melway 158 F11. The net annual value in the above assessments show that these Freeman and Durham blocks were vacant. I believe that J.H.Durham used his block for his horse to graze.

My "Durham, Rosebud" search on trove produced only one result.
STRAYED, dark brown Gelding. white star on forehead, .ear marked, scars on both hind legs. H. Durham, Rosebud.
(P.1, The Age, 13-5-1920.)



A ratebook inspection will be necessary to confirm this but I suspect that the death of Emily's second husband in 1893 (which seems to be verified by the birth dates of the three children above, there being no others born to the couple), was the impetus for Emily to spend more time in the weatherboard house which Judith Durham remembers being in the middle of the block on the west side of Durham Place, crown allotment 20 of the Rosebud Fishing Village granted to Fort Lacco on 16-10-1872 (the year of his marriage.)

It was probably at about the same time (circa 1893) that Fort Lacco built Pier Cottage on crown allotment 12 (or perhaps 12 and 11 of the fishing village, the site of the farcically-named Banksia Point apartment/ cafe development near the jetty. It was probably on that site that Mitch built the SURPRISE to show his expertise before moving to Queenscliff to further hone his skills. This was at about the same time that the hero of the La Bella, William John Ferrier of Number seven (crown allotment 7 of the fishing village, 858 Pt Neapean Rd)made the same move. Elizabeth went with Mitch and known as Granny Lacco to them, baby-sat the Ferrier youngsters, such as Lew (named after Lou Bucher), Queenscliff's barefoot fisherman in "Rosebud" at 20 Beach St., Queenscliff. Did Elizabeth leave Fort to cope on his own? No, Elizabeth was now a widow.

EventDeath Event registration number4813 Registration year1915
Personal information
Family nameLACCO Given namesFort SexUnknown Father's nameLacco Jno Mother's nameMary (Comeo) Place of birth Place of deathDromana Age72

When Mitch returned to Rosebud he built a house with a boat building shed behind it (fronting Mitchell St) on the east side of Murray Anderson Rd. Elizabeth* probably lived with Mitch's family and Pier Cottage was leased or bought by Cr.Edward Campbell of Melbourne City Council who spent every day he was down fishing on the bay**. Pier Cottage was destroyed by fire in 1936 despite the efforts of the Rosebud footballers on their way home from a function*** and Edward replaced it with the double storey building that stood on crown allotment 11 until it was recently demolished to make way for the three storey Banksia Point complex.
*ELIZABETH LACCO IN MIDDLE OF FAMILY GROUP ON VERANDAH OF HOUSE ON THE NORTH WEST CORNER OF THE PRESENT TASMAN MEATS BUILDING
Mitch Lacco and family Back row Ken Lucy Harold My mother Edna Grandma in middle Alec George and Mitch taken on the front porch at corner of Murray Anderson Rd in front of the boat shed
Photo and caption supplied by Marie Laurier.
** MORE LIKELY SEA-SICK
*** PIER COTTAGE

WAS WILLIAM ELIJAH KING A LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER AT SANDRIDGE? From:
MITCH AT QUEENSLIFF
Mitch Lacco was born in McCrae into a lighthouse keeper family and became an apprentice to Hansen. He eventually established his own boat building business in Fisherman’s Flat in 1916 where he built boats in the backyard of 31 Beach Street and launched them, with the help of his mates, from right there – so close was the shoreline back then. Payment to the helpers was in the form of a keg of beer. Superstition prevented launching of boats on a Friday. And the fishing fleet also did not fish on that day, mainly because the Melbourne Fish Market was closed on weekends, but used the weekend for boat maintenance.

Peter Locke, a fisherman from St. Leonards, was asked by Mitch to join him. He eventually took over the business in 1926 when the Lacco family shifted back to Rosebud.

When I read this, I thought the writer was referring to Mitch being born into the famed Dunk lightkeeping family whose original head was on the vessel sent north to search for Burke and Wills and after whom Dunk Island was wrongly claimed to have been named. The Lacco/Dunk connection took place in 1934 when Mitch's daughter, Edna was married. Ironically this was the same year that Mitch's mother, Elizabeth, nee King died.

EventMarriage Event registration number13306 Registration year1934
Personal information
Family nameLACCO Given namesEdna May SexUnknown Spouse's family nameDUNK Spouse's given namesAdam Edwd

Mitch was born in 1883, the birth place being named as Dromana which could mean that his father was working at the lighthouse at McCrae, which, even in 1907 when William John Ferrier arrived to do duty there, was regarded as being part of Dromana; or it could just mean that Mitch's birth was registered in Dromana.

Another possibility is that Fort's father in law was a light keeper at Sandridge between about 1857 and the birth of his youngest daughter in 1870, perhaps longer.I'll place finding proof of Mitch's father or maternal grandfather being a light keeper on my list of things to do.

Surnames: BUCHER CAMPBELL DURHAM FERRIER KING LACCO PANWTEO
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by itellya Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2017-09-21 14:49:41

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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