The Early Days of Blackwood Vic Aust

This journal became necessary because the surnames list for the HISTORY BUFF AND BUSHWALKER'S PARADISE journal had become full and would not accept any more names, Matthews being cut off and some others perhaps having disappeared.

It stands to reason that most of Blackwood's early pioneers did not become longtime residents of the district and their descendants could be completely unaware that Blackwood is associated with their family history. I'm sure that Margot Hitchcock will write about most of the families with a long association in the district so I will concentrate on those pioneers who moved on (apart from some transferred from the original journal to create room in its surname list.)

It was in chasing up information for my rhymes of old times journal that I uncovered a fair deal of information about the owner of the Reef Dispensary at Simmons Reef and, thinking it would be difficult to incorporate it all into a poem,decided to add it to my original journal. But I couldn't include the surname in the list. Unfortunately, nothing additional could be found about store keepers such as Frederick Willett and doctors such as Thomas Jones and Caesar Kisser but they'll get a mention in my poems.

THE PIONEERS.
As Margot has no doubt delved deeply into Blackwood families which had long associations with the area,I will not go into great detail about them. I intend to mention pioneers incidentally in THE ANNALS OF BLACKWOOD and include articles about some pioneers that I happen to stumble across, such as William Smith and Charles Dunn.

Three of the pioneers of the Blackwood area, who stayed there only briefly, were Charles Shuter, Pauline Bon Fond and David Mairs. The first two are discussed in my journal ITELLYA IS A STICKY BEAK from which this extract comes.

I have mentioned the lady surveyor in reference to Bernard Eaton in the RED HILL PIONEER journal. The information on that history board became etched in my memory bank because I knew well the difficulty of just walking in the mountainous terrain near Blackwood. I imagined the difficulty of carrying out a meticulous task like ensuring that levels were spot on so that water would flow for miles, with only gravity to propel it, along races such as the one that the Byers Back Track follows to O'Brien's Crossing. I imagined her tripping over fallen branches and bracken fern, exposed tree roots and protruding reef rock (unseen because of her ankle length dress), which would have been fatal if it happened where the race went around a huge granite boulder about an arm's length from a plunge of a hundred metres into the Lerderderg Gorge. How the author of "Those Courageous Hardy Women" would have loved a story like that to demonstrate how courageous and hardy the female pioneers were near Sorrento.

Pauline Bon Fond who came from France
And worked just like a man;
She dug a famous water race
When Blackwood first began.
Pauline Bon Frond. Born Chart, France,May 1820. Died 16-7-1867 aged 47.
(Verse and details from Grace Rayner's THE BLACKWOOD CEMETERY.)

At Greendale, between the Western Highway and Blackwood, there is a Shuter St. I wonder how many Greendale residents know how the street got its name. What a coincidence that there is a street with the same name just south of Puckle St in Moonee Ponds! "Oh really!" as Sam Newman would say. Read about Charles Shuter in Alexander Sutherland's "Victoria and Its Metropolis: Past and Present" (1888.)

Charles and his clerk of courts, Townshend Somerville, brother of an admiral,covered an incredible area.

DAVID MAIRS.(extracts from my journal DAVID MAIRS OF THE PARISH OF BITTERN.)
By googling David Mairs Bittern, you will find "David MairsP100230169 etc" which gives excellent genealogical detail about his ancestors and his wife's as well as all the children, emigration information and so on.
David Mairs married Sarah Taylor on 10-1-1857 at the age of 35 while farming at North Blackwood. Not far from that location is Ballan where David Taylor Mairs' birth was registered in 1867. While still near Ballan in 1861-2, David had bought a total of 74 acres and 22 perches at Melway 16 C 8-9, being crown allotments 31, 33, 34, 35 and 36 of section 16 in the parish of Doutta Galla.
The children of David Mairs and Sarah (nee Taylor) were:
Thomas b.19-3-1858 Ballan; Sarah Jane b.17-7-1859 Ballan; Mary Ann b. 29-3-1861 Ballan, David b.8-1-1863 and died 14-7--1865 Pentland Hills; David Taylor b.1867 Ballan; John Jervis b.1869 Tyabb; Sarah b.1871 Tyabb; William Alexander b.24-2-1876 Tyabb. (Ballan would have been the place the birth was registered.)

GOVERNMENT LAND SALE.Tuesday, 22nd July. 1856. There was a large muster of buyers to-day.
BLACKWOOD,In the parish of Blackwood, surrounding the village of Greendale, on road from Ballan to Blackwood diggings. Upset price, £1 per acre.
Lot 15. Two hundred and three acres one rood thirty perches, David Mairs (57s. per acre), £579 1s. 8d. the lot.
Lot 16. Two hundred and forty-six acres three roods eight perches,David Mairs (38s. per acre), £468 18s. 4d. the lot.
Lot 38. 158.3.1; (48s. per acre); 381 pounds the lot.
Lot 83. Ninety-nine acres one rood, sixteen perches, David Mairs (93s. per acre), £461 19s. 6d. the lot.
Lot 84. Forty-six acres two roods thirty - seven perches, David Mairs (68s. per acre), £158 17s. 8d. the lot.
Lot 85. Sixty acres three roods, David Mairs (60s. per acre), £182 5s. the lot.
Lot 88. One hundred and fifty-eight acres three roods one perch, David Mairs (48s. per acre), £381 the lot.
Lot 23. Seventy - seven acres thirty-two perches, John Harbison (32s. per acre), £128
(P.5, Argus, 23-7-1856.)

(It may have been John Harbison who persuaded David Mairs to buy land in section 16, Doutta Galla, whose location is described in my journal about David Mairs. Described in a Keilor historical souvenir (1950, 1961 or 1963;I forget which)as a doctor from Northern Ireland who grew oranges, Harbison's land in section 16 was where Orange Grove (Melway 16 E 12) is now situated.)

Arthur Mairs was a farmer on Pyke's Flat in 1869. (P.3, The Bacchus Marsh Express,5-6-1869.)
MAIRS. —On the 14th inst., of diphtheria, at Pyke's-flat, Pentland Hills, David Mairs, aged two years and six months; also, on the 17th inst., of the same disease, Sarah Jane Mairs, aged six years, the beloved children of David and Sarah Mairs. (P.4, Argus, 25-7-1865.)

David's involvement in the area did not cease when he moved to Bittern. He was a member of a deputation to the Minister for Railways in 1875 requesting a railway line through the Pentland Hills.
(P.4, The Bacchus Marsh Express, 3-4-1875.) One hell of a trip between farms! The Mairs family still owned land there in 1905.

In another column we give an account of a dinner given to David Mairs, Esq., J.P., on the occasion of his leaving the district, after a residence in it of eleven years. We have commented upon the loss the district has thus sustained, more especially as regards the representation of the East Riding in the Shire Council, and we think that it will be a long time before the Riding obtains an equally able representative. No doubt Councillor Mairs will send in his resignation to the next meeting of the Council, and then we shall be able to announce the names of those willing to occupy the vacancy. (P.2, Bacchus Marsh Express, 23-11-1867.)

Mr. David Mairs, Balnarring, wrote that he was opposed to annexing his properties (Adam Fowler's and W. Thom son's) to Bacchus Marsh Shire.(P.3, Bacchus Marsh Express, 10-4-1897.) Balnarring Rd was the boundary between the parishes of Balnarring (west) and Bittern (east)but much of the latter parish was included in the locality of Balnarring.

WILLIAM SMITH.
Our old identities or Blackwood pioneers are getting to be like Dean Swift's fortune, " smaller by degrees and beautifully less," and William Smith, of the Four Mile Junction, was the last to join the great majority. Mr. Smith I had known on Blackwood for quite 32 years as a miner carpenter, wood splitter, and contractor, and I think he was about the best known man on and around Blackwood in the past 32 years. Shortly after arriving on Blackwood he married, and has reared to man and womanhood six of a family, every one of whom is well and favourably known on Blackwood. William Smith was buried at the Blackwood cemetery on Monday last week, in the Catholic portion of the ground. The burial service was read by Mr. M. Croker. - There was an extremely large attendance of relatives, friends, and the general public at the funeral.(P.3, Bacchus Marsh Express, 22-9-1888.)

THE ALLEN FAMILY.
Joseph Allen and his wife, Elizabeth, were obviously living in Blackwood for some time, definitely by 1885 as shown below. They seem to have had four children: Elizabeth Jane b.1882, Jessie b.1885, Leonard Allen b.1887 at Blackwood and Ina b.1889. Joseph and Elizabeth moved to Yarrawonga with Leonard. (Desperately Seeking, Sunday Herald Sun, 17-2-2013.Elizabeth McInerney, a grand daughter of one of Leonard's sisters,is seeking information about him. I only found the following reference to the family on trove in connection with Blackwood but their name might have been written in other articles as Allan. If you have any information about the family's involvement at Blackwood, please email Elizabeth on .

BALLAN SHIRE COUNCIL. MONDAY, MARCH 9.
The Bacchus Marsh Express (Vic. : 1866 - 1918) Saturday 25 April 1885 p 2 Article
... usual conditions, subject tp approval of Engineer. R. Shillito, offering roller for sale. Mr. Allen, Blackwood, claiming .215 compensation.-The Engineer to inquire and report at next meeting.

I might have not looked carefully enough, but I failed to find a report of the next council meeting. Elizabeth seems to have won a prize at the Ballan Show in 1893.

Mrs. Allan , Black wood, knitting, 2s. 6d.; Miss Dugdale, poonah, 2s. 6d.; do., mantle drape, 2s. 6d.; Mrs. Cron, knitting, 2s. 6d.; Miss A. Williams, Gordon, hand painting, 2s. 6d.; Mrs. James Byrne, Blackwood, wattle blossom tea cosey. 2s. 6d. (P.3, Bacchus Marsh Express, 25-2-1893.)

It was just as well Mrs Byrne won a prize or I would not have found this article because "Black wood" was not recognised as "Blackwood". No matches were found for (allen, black wood) and (allan, black wood) produced only the article about the Ballan Show.

An examination of the 1856 electoral roll shows that there was an Alexander Allan at Golden Point.Could he have been Joseph Allen's father?

Elizabeth McInerney has sent me the following details about the Allen family.

My grandmother,Ina, and her siblings were actually born in East Trentham
which in those early days was actually designated as Blackwood. It was close to
the boundary of Blackwood.
Joseph , the father, actually separated from his wife Elizabeth; taking the eldest
daughter Elizabeth Jane and Leonard to Yarrawonga. My grandmother
never ever knew of them. That left her older sister then, Jessie and
herself.
As far as religion goes- Nan's mum was Presbyterian and her father C.of E.
Nan remained Church of England all her life.
Elizabeth Jane married in Yarrawonga into a large family. According to papers I have seen, they were going to Queensland; Leonard with them I think.

CHARLES JAMES ESDAILE.
Charles James Esdaile was running the Reef Dispensary at Simmons Reef in 1856. (P.6,Argus,22-5-1856.) The son of the Rev. James Esdaile of London, Charles J.B.Esdaile of Brunswick St married Susannah Millin Pocock, only daughter of Mr H.Pocock of Collingwood. (P.7,Argus, 6-9-1855.) It was obviously Charles who attended a big meeting of druggists and was elected to a committee to keep an eye on a Bill whose clauses 15 and 19 required a licence to sell drugs and imposed penalties for operating without one. The druggists were qualified men and were concerned that the people deciding on the licences would not have the expertise to make correct decisions.
(P.6, Argus, 18-2-1855.)

NOTICE is hereby given that the Partnership heretofore existing between us, the undersigned, Henry Robert Austen and Charles James Esdaile, carrying on business in Brunswick-street, Collingwood, as chemists and druggists, under the style and firm of Austin and Esdaile, has this day been dis solved by mutual consent.
All debts will be received and paid by H. R. Austen, who will continue to carry on the business.
Dated this 6th day of September, 1855.
CHARLES JAMES ESDAILE. HENRY B. AUSTEN.(P.7, Argus, 6-9-1855.) It is likely that Charles (and Susannah?) moved to the Blackwood diggings soon afterwards.

THE ANNALS OF BLACKWOOD

1842. Mount Blackwood had been named. This is the earliest reference I have found so far.
PORT PHILLIP EXTRACTS. "PORT PHILLIP VOLUNTEERS." (From the Melbourne Times, June 4.)
The Sydney Herald (NSW : 1831 - 1842) Tuesday 14 June 1842 p 4 Article
... Phillip District. 6th Division.-The country to the south of Mount Macedon, bounded on the east by the Sydney road ; on the north by the ranges running from Kilmore towards Mount Macedon, the Mount Macedon Range, the Black Forest, and Green Hills to Mount Blackwood; on the west by ..

14-11-1854. Two men (Athorn andHider)looking for teamsters' bullocks which had strayed from Ballarat (teamsters according to the aforementioned plaque)found gold at Jackson's Gully, Golden Point.

January 1855. George Jackson and companions (different from those named in ASPECTS OF EARLY BLACKWOOD and in my poem THE FIRST TWO PARTIES in my RHYMES OF OLD TIMES IN BLACKWOOD journal)go to Athorn and Hider's find at Golden Point. This letter from D.Ryan was primarily concerned that the diggings had stolen the name of the mountain but gives details of Athorn and George Jackson. Only part of the letter ((P.3, Bacchus Marsh Express, 9-7-1898) is included here.

MOUNT BLACKWOOD. To the Editor. SIR,-George Jackson would, I think make a good living anywhere. I was present at his wedding at Leahy and Egan's, Bacchus Marsh. He, Tom Spice(r?) (Ballan), and Black Charlie, would surprise any mob of wild bullocks in the Pyrete scrub or anywhere else that they were commissioned to muster. Jackson picked up with Harry Athorn, East Ballan hotel, an expert horseman, Bill and Jim Keating (Keating's swamp, Mount Cotterell), Tom Gregory, Disher, and George Whale of Ballan, joined the party, who started in January, '55, on a pilgrimage through the Blackwood ranges, and fixed their tent on the site of Peter Jensen's property, at Golden Point, Blackwood. They worked on with great success, opened up Jackson's gully, and got heaps of gold. Jackson let me know, so one morning early in March John Leahy, John Edols, myself, and Sergeant Roberts, started for Blackwood. Towards evening we came to the camp of our acquaintances, and it was a sight to see the immense quantity of gold in pickle bottles (a pickle bottle held about 12 lbs troy).
1856. Not a good start!
MOUNT BLACKWOOD.
Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 - 1918) Tuesday 12 February 1856 p 4 Article
... MOUNT BLACKWOOD. A private correspondent, writing from Golden Point on the 4th instant, describes the gold-field to be all but deserted. He says:-"There are merely a handful of people on these diggings, and they would be off if they could raise the cash to carry them away.etc.

MOUNT BLACKWOOD.
The Red Hill, formerly so populous and busy, is deserted ; but the people have left their houses and tents entire ; it would seem that return is contemplated.(P.2, Bendigo Advertiser, 17-4-1856.)At least two correspondents refuted such claims. The Blackwood mining activity did decline when it was too wet (filling the shafts) or too dry (unless a dam had been built.)

(Argus, 22-5-1856.) The electors for the Legislative Assembly in the Mount Blackwood Division of the West Bourke District were listed, with most of them qualifying because of their miner's rights.The names of the hotels at the various diggings were given. (Acre's Reef was near Yankee Rd.)

Among the longtime or already mentioned Blackwoodians noticed were William Vigor (written as Vizor), David and Thomas Harry of Red Hill, John and Henry Hill of Simmon's Reef, Andrew Johnson of Red Hill (who may have been the Mr Johnson mentioned in Grace Rayner's DEAD MAN'S HILL, who arranged for a plaque to be placed on the grave of Isaac Povey), Edward Langhorne (who chaired Phelan's meeting), John Martin of Simmons Reef, (right family?), James Millyard CHECKof Simmons Reef, John McGallivary CHECK of Yankee Creek, William Nolan of Golden Point (after whom Nolan St was probably named),James Simmons (Golden Point, not Simmons Reef), five men named Smith at Simmons Reef, Joseph Thompson of Simmons Reef (right family?), John Wightman of Simmons Reef, and Thomas and John Williams of Simmons Reef (John probably the later resident near Golden Point whose children were claimed by Scarlatina and drowning).