MARTIN LAVARS' FARM ADJOINING BROADMEADOWS TOWNSHIP, VIC., AUST. IN 1889: WHICH FARM WAS THAT? :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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MARTIN LAVARS' FARM ADJOINING BROADMEADOWS TOWNSHIP, VIC., AUST. IN 1889: WHICH FARM WAS THAT?

Journal by itellya

This journal is dedicated to Elayne Whatman of the Broadmeadows Historical Society, now in a nursing home, whose dedication over many years has encouraged my continued research into the history of the Broadmeadows area.

MARTIN LAVARS' FARM ADJOINING BROADMEADOWS TOWNSHIP, VIC., AUST. IN 1889: WHICH FARM WAS THAT?
It was "CHANDOS".

Broadmeadows Ploughing Match.
The Broadmeadows annual ploughing match took place on the 6th inst., on Mr. M, Lavars's farm adjoining the township of Broadmeadows, and passed off very satisfactorily. There was a large attendance of the public and a first-class muster of ploughmen.----- etc. (P.3, Weekly Times, 22-6-1889.)

Anybody researching the Lavars family could make a wrong assumption given the location of Martin's farm in the report of the sale of the property* and finding Lavers (sic) Place at Melway 6 A5.** My immediate reaction was that the farm must have been Willowbank immediately north of Kenny St but that farm was owned by the heirs of Donald Kennedy until the Dundonald estate was sold in 1929***.

* Two fine subdivisional properties at Broad-
meadows were offered, both close to the town
ship, the one comprising 498 1/4 acres, having
nearly a mile of frontage to the road from
Broadmeadows to Donnybrook and let under
lease, having yet twelve months to run, to Mr
Martin Lavars at a rental of £200 per annum,
and the other 360 Acres immediately opposite
tho above, which is occupied by Mr Williamson
at a rental of L175 per annum. The former of
these was sold for L45 per acre, and the second
for L30 per acre. The buyer in each case
being Mr Croker, solicitor, making in all a
total of about L36,000. (P.3, The Herald, 29-3-1888.)

Croker, Tommy Bent, Marks Herman and G.W.Taylor were just a few of the speculators snapping up land along two proposed routes for a railway to Bulla Township. The 1890's depression arrived before the route could be decided and the railway never eventuated despite another push for it in the late 1920's- just before the next big depression. Ownership of the first property returned to the Peter Estate. The Williamsons were probably on Camp Hill but may have been leasing Edmund Dunn's "Viewpoint" between Camp Hill and Stewarton which was indeed opposite the southern portion of the first property. I believe the second property was Camp Hill (later renamed Gowanbrae).

** When Willowbank was subdivided as the Alanbrae Estate in the 1990's, the council put me in touch with the developers who were keen to have the area's history recalled by its street names. I suggested that streets be given the names of pioneers (CHADWICK, LAVARS, GILMORE, MITCHELL, JOHNSON)and farms (WILLOWBANK, CHANDOS.) They obviously checked rate records and got the wrong spelling of Lavars there. I selected Chandos as a name for personal reasons, as an alternative to the surname of my maternal great grandfather, John Cock, which would have not appealed to residents of COCK STREET!

*** WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27.
At Half-past Two O'Clock. At Scott's Hotel,
Melbourne.
SALE OF GROUP OF
SPLENDID FREEHOLD FARMS
AT BROADMEADOWS,
Comprising:—
KIA ORA, Containing About 359 Acres.
WILLOW BANK, Containing About 299 Acres.
WATTLE GROVE, Containing About 195 Acres.
ANNETTE, Containing About 291 Acres.
SPRING BANK, Containing About 304 Acres.
DUNDONALD, Containing About 399 Acres.
Aggregating About 1848 Acres.
Forming a Compact Group, Separated Merely by
the Main Road.
Under Instructions from THE TRUSTEES, EXE-
CUTORS, AND AGENCY CO., of 412 Collins
Street, Melbourne, in the Estate of Messrs.
D. C. and D. Kennedy, Deceased.(P.2, Argus, 9-11-1929.)

In 1882, Mary Peter, nee Bent, had been farming on Chandos in partnership with Martin Lavars.
7 do (bullocks) for Mrs Peter and Mr Lavars, Broadmeadows (P.9, Argus, 16-11-1882.)

Soon afterwards, Mary Peter died.
MRS. MARY PETER Deceased.— All persons having CLAIMS against the estate of the late Mrs. Peter, of Chandos House, Broadmeadows, are requested to SEND PARTICULARS to Andrew Macgregor, Esq., care of Messrs. Taylor, Buckland & Gates, William-street, Melbourne.(P.3, The Age, 16-12-1884.)

From another journal.
MARY PETER (NEE BENT) AND HER BROTHER JOHN, DIED AT "CHANDOS", TULLAMARINE, VIC., AUST.
Journal by itellya
PETER.—On the 23rd inst., at her residence, Chandos, Broadmeadows, Mary, relict of the late John Peter,
formerly of Tubbo Station, New South Wales, aged 73 years. R.I.P. (p.1, Argus,25-9-1884.)

Funeral Notices.
The Friends of the late Mrs. MARY PETER are invited to follow her remains to the Spencer-street railway station (en route to Wanga Wagga* Cemetery).
The funeral will leave her late residence Chandos,Broadmeadows, THIS DAY (Friday, the 20th inst),at half-past 11 o'clock.(P.1,Argus, 26-9-1884.)
A stained-glass window in Wagga Wagga's Roman Catholic Church (St Michael's, was provided by Mary Peter's grandchildren. ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.
Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW : 1875 - 1910) Tuesday 30 August 1887 p 2 Article.


Chandos was one of the street names that I suggested for the Alanbrae Estate,the subdivision of "Willowbank" north of Kenny St and the old Broadmeadows Township, now known as Westmeadows.

John Peter bought "Chandos" from the grantee of sections 6 and 15, parish of Tullamarine, John Carre Riddell, the transaction recorded in the memorial volume 170 folio 2. It was part of Riddell and Hamilton's Camieston Estate. It fronted the west side of today's Mickleham Rd from the midline of Londrew Ct. and Freight Rd.(where it adjoined the Junction Estate) north to the Moonee Ponds Creek. Its western boundaries were Derby St (where it adjoined the one acre blocks in Hamilton Terrace)and Wright St (west of which were blocks of about 6 acres that were consolidated into farms such as Wallis Wright's Sunnyside and Charles Nash's Fairview.)
I had always assumed that Bent St in Broadmeadows Township was named after Tommy Bent, politician, but perhaps it was named after Ann Peter's brother.

BENT - On the 10th inst, at the residence of his sister, Mrs. J. Peters, Broadmeadows, John Bent,aged 68 years, NSW papers please copy. (P.1, Argus, 21-2-1880.)

THE Friends of the late Mr. JOHN BENT, are respectfully invited to follow his remains to the place of interment, Keilor Cemetery. The funeral will move from the residence of Mrs.J Peters, Broadmeadows, THIS DAY, 21st inst., at 3 o'clock. (P.5, Argus, 21-2-1880.)

The children of Broadmeadows Township had a favourite swimming hole on Chandos that they called Peterson's Hole. Rate records revealed that nobody named Peterson occupied Chandos so the hole most likely got its name because Mary Peter's son swam there.

Consisting of 467 acres, Chandos was mainly in section 6. John Cock who was leasing Gladstone (formerly Stewarton and now the northern 777 acres of Gladstone Park) leased Chandos from the Peter Estate. It was later divided into three farms which became known as Wright's "Strathconan", Bill Lockhart's "Springburn" and Percy Judd's "Chandos Park" of 142, about 188 and 123 acres respectively, Judd's being in section 15.

THE PURE CLYDESDALE STALLION,REVOLTER, Will travel the Broadmeadows and surrounding districts this season.
For pedigree, terms, and .particulars see cards.
MARTIN LAVARS, Proprietor.
WM. WOODYARD, Groom.
"Chandos," Broadmeadows,
23th July, 1885. (P.3, The Australasian, 15-8-1885.)


When I suggested Lavars for a street name on the Alanbrae Estate, I was thinking of John Lavars and his hotel at the south west corner of Mickleham and Somerton Rds, wrongly shown on the north east corner by Annette Davis in her manuscript of her history of Greenvale, GREENVALE: LINKS WITH THE PAST. Hopefully, her history, published under the name of Annette Ferguson shows the correct location. I think Annette mentioned Martin having a farm farther south; I wonder if she knew it was CHANDOS.

Martin's 1888 biography in VICTORIA AND ITS METROPOLIS:PAST AND PRESENT states that he commenced farming on his own account in 1879,leasing 500 acres from the D.Kennedy estate, but doesn't indicate whether this was at Glenroy or Broadmeadows or how long he continued this lease.

Martin's claim was correct, the 500 acres were part of the Dundonald Estate on the east side of Ardlie St north of Kenny Street and the lease was to end in March 1886. He was obviously moving onto Chandos whose homestead would have been fully furnished and had given up hay- growing. Willowbank in 1885 seems to have included Wattle Grove of 1929: (WILLOW BANK, Containing About 299 Acres +WATTLE GROVE, Containing About 195 Acres.=494 acres.)

Wattle Grove, between Willow Bank and Glen Allan, was later accessed by a northern extension of Elizabeth St in Broadmeadows Township that became the pipeline from Greenvale Reservoir. Ed Hoctor recalled the Walsh family being on Wattle Grove. William's Station View may have been all or part of John Twomey's Glenallan of 1928.

NOTICE is hereby given that the PARTNERSHIP heretofore subsisting between the undersigned William Walsh of Station View Broadmeadows and John Walsh of Wattle Grove Broadmeadows carrying on business as dairymen at Broadmeadows under the name of William Walsh and John Walsh has been DISSOLVED by mutual consent as from the thirty first day of January 1947.(P.21, Argus, 29-1-1947.)
John Walsh was still on Wattle Grove in 1953.


MARTIN LAVARS HAD BEEN ON THE 500 ACRE WILLOWBANK FROM 1879 TILL 1885 BUT BY 1889 WAS ON CHANDOS WHERE THE PLOUGHING MATCH WAS CONDUCTED.
TO LET.-Broadmeadows, FARM,
500 acres, now in occupation ot Mr. Martin
Lavars, one year, possession March 1 next. Apply
Lynch and M'Donald, Collins-street west, Melbourne.

Sales by Auction.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20;
BROADMEADOWS.
CLEARING-OUT SALE at WILLOW- BANK FARM.
flAMPBELL, PRATT, and Co. are
instructed by Mr. Martin Lavers to SELL by
AUCTION, on Friday, 20th February, at eleven
o'clock,
The whole of his valuable
FARM STOCK,
Comprising
10 head dairy cattle
10 superior draught horses, real good farmer's
sorts, including pair by Pride of the Shires,
suitable for a lorry; mare, 1 yrs, by Pride of
the Shires, foal at foot by Pride o' Dee, and
served by Pride of Victoria; mare, by Young
Cowden Lad, and others, all real pullers.
IMPLEMENTS.
2 hay drays with frames, tip-dray, seed-sowerand
cart, stack and field elevators, treble-purchase
winch, Musgrove mower, iron-tooth drag,
double-furrow plough, by M'Calman and Garde,
single plough, Lennon's three-horse harrows,
iron roller, chaffcutter and horseworks, hay
rake, stack-cover, first-class, 72 x 30; dray and
bench covers, Lennon's grubber, sets of buggy,
cart, plough, and leading harness, 1 double
buggy, nearly new, by Geo: Parsons ; 1 single
hooded buggy ; a lot of well-bred fowls, and
quantity sundries.
Lanre stacks first-class hay, about 130 and SO
tons respectively.
HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE
Parlour, dining, bed room articles, grand piano,
and sundries.
Note day of sale, Friday, 20th February.
Luncheon Provided.(P.45, The Australasian, 14-2-1885.)

THE LAST MENTION OF MARTIN LAVARS IN CONNECTION WITH "CHANDOS" WAS IN A STOCK REPORT IN 1893.
The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) Saturday 4 March 1893 p 27

My great grandfather had bought Chandos in 1902 but obviously did not occupy it until Martin's lease had finished.
SALES OF LAND.
Messrs. A. E. Gibson and Co. report having sold "Chandos " Broadmeadows, containing 454 acres,or thereabouts to Mr. John Cock.(P. 14, Argus, 8-2-1902.)

Surnames: COCK KENNEDY LAVARS PETER WALSH
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by itellya Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2018-05-30 15:07:58

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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