What do you mean by "That's not good Grammar,"; I bet you wouldn't say that to Granpa! Sorry, my attempts at humour take control at times.
I strive to provide some sort of detail for family historians but when I wrote FOOTBALL NEAR TULLAMARINE, I knew nothing about some of those who attended the 1915 meeting, namely Islip, Fitzgerald, Hillary and Campbell. I had seen the first and last names and Bob Blackwell told me something about Felix Fitzgerald 22 years ago but my mind was blank.

ISLIP. Christopher Islip attended the Broadmeadows Court in 1908 to apply for an old age pension on behalf of James Waylett of Oaklands, who was 95 and couldn't leave his room. Constable Walsh (who would have been stationed at Broadmeadows Township but covered Bulla) stated that Waylett was an old and respected resident who had been a gardener at Oaklands since 1852.(Sunbury News 12-6-1908, page 3.)

C.W.Islip did contract work, probably road making or supplying road metal, for the shire and the final payment on one contract was nearly 26 pounds, which was a lot of money.(Sunbury News 24-10-1903 page 4.)

Mr Islip was one of a large group at the Bulla Shire meeting who were opposing the appointment of a ranger in the east riding. They wanted their cows to continue grazing on the roadside. (This was a common practice and Symonds wrote about certain roads being called Pender's Run for this reason.) Islip must have lived near the Oaklands Rd corner because Cr Brannigan would have turned off Bulla Rd there to go to St Johns Hill. Brannigan said that Islip's cows camping at the corner posed danger on dark nights. (Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter, 22-1-1914, page 5.)

Ethel, the second daughter of Mr C.W. and Mrs Islip married Leonard P.Schiffman of Port Melbourne at St Mary's Bulla on 4-12-1911. (The Argus, 27-11-2911, page 1.) Ethel's older sister was Ivy, who attended the Bachelors' Ball in 1909 and was accompanied the next year by Ethel.Ivy won the under 14 girls' race at the 1907 school picnic, with 1908 seemingly her last year at the school. Oaklands Hunt reports indicate that the Islips, Fitzgeralds and Campbells lived near each other.

Thanks to Neil Mansfield, I can now access the information in my DHOTAMA (DICTIONARY HISTORY OF TULLAMARINE AND MILES AROUND.) This reveals that in 1882-3, Joseph and Chistopher had land at Oaklands Junction with nett annual values of 6 pounds and 10 pounds respectively. In 1914-5, L.J.Islip was leasing 46 acres from W.J.White. (Bulla Rates.)

FITZGERALD. The land on which the Islips, Fitgeralds and Campbells etc had their small farms was formerly the town common as shown in the map on Kathleen Fanning's website. I obtained a different version of the parish map from P.R.O.V.It shows three Fitzgerald's blocks and indicates that the common was subdivided by 1870. I do remember the late Bob Blackwell pointing out a brick well dome that William Bedford had built for Felix Fitzgerald but I can't remember whether it was in Oaklands or Somerton Rd.A block in Oaklands Rd started 84 metres north of the Cemetery Lane corner and adjoined a Campbell block which fronted the westernmost point of the curve. Two adjoining blocks were in Somerton Rd between points 458 metres westof Oaklands Rd and and 108 metres east of Blackwell's Lane.The first block was bought in 1874 and the other two in 1876 and 1880. The Ralstons ran a creamery near the Fitzgerald blocks and Bob Blackwell said that Mrs Ralston was a hard taskmaster. Apparently some of them had deserted from ships. When one of them pointed out that the Gilligans' workers, on the north side of Somerton Rd (Greenvale Lane), had knocked off, she replied, "Don't worry, they might have finished earlier, but you will start earlier than they do in the morning!"

So far I have seen about six Oaklands Hunt reports of pursuits across Fitzgerald farms, in one case two Fitzgerald farms.
R.Fitzgerald later bought 40 acres on Oaklands Rd at 12 pounds per acre.(Argus, 30-9-1920, page 10.)

Mrs Fitzgerald, wife of a farmer of Oaklands Rd Bulla, was talking to her husband, who was loading a dray with hay when a truss of hay fell on top of her, fracturing her thigh.(Argus, 23-5-1895, page 7.)

R.Fitzgerald was in Bulla's best when they played a combined Greenvale-Broadmeadows football team. (Sunbury News, 27-5-1905, page 2.) J.Hillary, mentioned later, was also among the best players.

James Gerald Fitzgerald, the second son of the late Mr and Mrs R.Fitzgerald formerly of Oaklands Junction, married Elizabeth Theresa, the only daughter of the late Mr W.P. Fanning and Mrs J Fanning of Sunny Side, at St Patrick's Cathedral yesterday. (Argus, 28-3-1952, page 6.) Google "bulla parish map" and you will find Kathleen Fanning's FANNING FAMILY HISTORY first up.

CAMPBELL. Wise's directory of 1884-5 lists Duncan Campbell, farmer, as a resident of Oaklands Junction. Archibald Campbell was assessed on 10 acres in the Oaklands and Green Gully subdivision of Bulla Shire in 1914-1915.Archie used to work at James Musgrove's implement factory (177 K5) but his boss would never call him Archie, as James regarded shortened versions of names as being disrespectful, according to Bob Blackwell.Buried in the Presbyterian section of the Bulla Cemetery are: Duncan Campbell (died 24-10-1908 at 76; Mary Campbell (died 10-9-1875 at 36); Marion Campbell (d. 24-1-1959 at 84)- all in row 1; Mary Elizabeth Campbell (d. 6-10-1937 at 69-row 6); Archibald Campbell (d. 18-4-1940 at 69 - row 7.) (DHOTAMA page C.19.) The above cemetery information was transcribed from (often- broken)headstones circa 1889 and fatigue may have caused an error. Neil Mansfield and John Shorten have produced a wonderful register of burials at the cemetery. Entry 279 is Mary Isabella Campbell; I wrote Mary Elizabeth. The register indicates that Duncan married Mary, the daughter (born in Scotland) of Duncan Cameron and Marion (nee McConichie.) Duncan's parents were Alexander and Mary (Gilchrist.) Marion (1867),Mary Isabella (1868) and Archibald ( 1870) were Duncan and Mary Campbell's children.


HILLARY. John Thomas Hillary died at his residence, Bulla, aged 64 on October 15. He was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Hillary and brother of Hannah. (The Argus 16-10-1946, page 19.) What about Bridget?
John was was one of Bulla's best in the footy game against Greenvale- Broadmeadows, as mentioned earlier.

(Sunbury News, 22 and 23-10-1910 etc.)
Martin Lawlor, J.M.Hillary, and Patrick Honan were neighbours near a closed north-south road that led to a creek. Lawlor saw Honan opening Hillary's fence.Hillary had a lease on the closed road and had installed a swing gates but as this had been taken off the hinges, he had replaced the gate with fencing. This had caused trouble for Honan in regard to his children getting to school and watering his cows at the creek.
The closed road may have been Quartz St which still exists or Felspar St which was shown on a Bulla Parish map (including township streets and blocks)that I gave to the Hume Library System. The closed road, which ran from Mica St to the common, had a gate at the south end and the north end ran into the creek.It could have been a portion of Trap St north of the Deep Creek crossing.(My kingdom for that map!)
Incidentally, Quartz, Mica and Felspar Streets were so- named because of the rare white Kaolin Clay which was mined for some time. Trap St may have been named because of the gold-escort troopers stationed nearby before they were relocated to Keilor, Trap being the diggers' term for a trooper.

I CAN KEEP MY KINGDOM. Maps and text in DHOTAMA (H 56 for Hillary and H 86 for Honan) show the following. Felspar st is the present main road that went downhill to the creek with William Bethell's bluestone store on the left. I always wondered why there was a coffee palace in Trap St. This would have to be because it was intended to be the main street, crossing the creek. Quartz St ran north to where the public section ends (177 A5)and then ran westward along the middle of the horseshoe bend.T.Hillary was granted lots 5 and 6 of section 2 of this western extension and in 1914-5, J. Hillary was assessed on this land. T.Hillary was also granted lot 1 of section 3 bounded on the south by Mica St (almost the course of Sunbury Rd as it climbs towards the west just over the bridge) and on the west by that northern extension of Trap St. The Honans were south of Mica St on lots 1 and 2 of section 6 leased from Slattery. Lawlor had a good vantage point to see Honan interfering with Hillary's fence because his land fronted the north east side of Sunbury Rd (176 J5, part K 5 and 6.) Hillary had probably fenced the northern part of Trap St off right at the Mica St corner and the present start of Sunbury Rd at Troopers Bend may not have been made (with the resultant discovery of gold rush skeletons). Why this would require Honan, and his children, to go around the north (uphill) side of Hillary's land is hard to understand. Perhaps he had also bought a block south of Mica St (which is slightly south of the present road)and blocked that street too. I can't be sure but I believe that the Bulla State School was still on the north side of the east end of Mica St (177 A6.)
Too many things don't make sense but next time you cross the bridge and start to climb, visualise Honan on your left, and on your right, Hillary, with Lawlor (the witness) up near the Loemans Rd roundabout.

OUCH! Mrs Hillary of Bulla suffered a compound fracture when one of her fingers was caught in the cog-wheel of a wool press. (Sunbury News, 13-10-1900, page 2.)

TRAGEDY . Mrs Thomas Hillary and her daughter were both drowned while bathing in Deep Creek.
(South Australia Register, 5-2-1895, page 8.)

(Sunbury News and Bulla and Melton Advertiser, 9-2-1895, page 3.)
At 3p.m. Mrs Hillary and 11 year old Mary Lawlor went to Deep Creek to bathe just below Mrs Scannell's house . After half an hour they were joined by Mrs Hilary's two daughters, Hannah and 9 year old Bridget Annie. The latter got out of her depth and Hannah also got into trouble trying to help her, and when their mother went to her aid, she and Bridget both disappeared in the water.Mary Lawlor ran to Scannell's but Mr Scannell was not home so Miss Scannell ran 300 yards to the Lawlor house. Mr Lawlor and his son, Daniel, got Mrs Hillary's body to the bank and rescued Hannah from neck-deep water. Daniel then dived and found Bridget Annie's body which James Cahill of Sunbury helped him remove from the water. Several neighbours and state school teacher, Mr Meeking, attempted resuscitation but in vain. John ,12, and Hannah,10, are now motherless. Mr Hillary is in the employ of the Shire as a roadsman.