Charles and Ellen Rossiter

Rossiter Road is named after Charles Rossiter. Charles and Ellen Rossiter took up 317 acres of land at Yallock in 1873 and called the property Hawkesdale. It was located at Lot 10b, Parish of Yallock and situated between Koo Wee Rup and Bayles, near Bethune's Road.  Before this Charles and Ellen lived at Ravenhurst (later called Tulliallan) on Clyde Road, south of Grices Road in Cranbourne North. You can read about the history of the Ravenhurst / Tulliallan property, here.

Charles and Ellen Rossiter, early 1890s.

State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/39

Ravenhurst was part of the Garem Gam Run of 3,200 acres (1300 hectares) taken up by James Bathe and T.J Perry in 1837. In 1845, Garem Gam was subdivided and the eastern part was called Ravenhurst.  Ravenhurst was taken up by Benjamin Rossiter (Charles’ father) and Maurice Feehan in 1850. In 1851 it appears that the property (Garem Gam) was leased as a whole by Benjamin Rossiter, Maurice Feehan and Sarah O’Shea. Sarah had been leasing the other section of the Garem Gam property with John Crewe.  By 1854, Benjamin Rossiter had the entire property.

Benjamin Rossiter (1786 - 1858) and his wife Zillah Baynton (1789 - 1871) had arrived in the Western Port area in 1842, having come out from Somersetshire in 1841. Benjamin Rossiter died in 1858 and his sons Charles and Thomas, took over the property. As well as the two boys Benjamin and Zillah had two daughters - Ann who died as a teenager and Mercy who married Henry Wedge. Henry Wedge and his bothers Charles and John had the Bangam and Ballymarang Stations. Bangam was located between the Dandenong and Eumemmerring Creeks (so modern day Doveton) and Ballamarang, which is around modern day Carrum Downs and across to Seaford and Port Phillip Bay. Wedge Road in Carrum Downs is named for the family. Mercy Wedge died in 1903 aged 80. Thomas James Rossiter, who died in Parkes in New South Wales, married Mary Ann O’Shea in 1854, the same year his brother, Charles, married Ellen O’Shea.  Mary Ann and Ellen were sisters, the daughters of  John O’Shea (died 1852 aged 51) and his first wife, Mary Josephine Ryan*. O’Shea’s Road is named for the family.  

Claude, Nellie and Norton Rossiter at Hawkesdale, early 1880s

State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/17

Charles and Ellen O’Shea had eight children -  Edwin Augustus (1856 - 1939, married Ellen Louisa Craig in 1890), Emily Baynton (1857 - 1883), Helena Ellen Teresa (1859 - 1902), Charles Benjamin (1865 - 1942, married his first cousin Zillah Rossiter in 1899), Hubert (1869 - 1870), Ellen Teresa (known as Nellie, 1871- 1926 married William Brierley in 1906), Norton Baynton (c. 1875 - 1947, married Hilda Hodgson in 1906) and Claude Cecil (c. 1878 - 1947, married Stella Mary Paragreen in 1907). Charles died in 1895 aged 74 and Ellen died in 1909 aged 73. They are both buried at the Cranbourne Cemetery

What do we know about their life in Koo Wee Rup? Niel Gunson in his book Good Country: Cranbourne Shire says that Rossiter’s property Hawkesdale was regarded as a show place in the district and the homestead was set off by a profusion of flowers – geraniums, dahlias, rhododendrons, roses, broom and cactus. Besides bloodstock and a shorthorn dairy herd, Rossiter applied intense cultivation – in a paddock on the east side of the homestead seventeen successive crops have been grown and for the last fourteen years without manure - the present crop will yield 2 ½ tons of hay to the acre. You can see some of the garden in the photograph, below.

The Rossiters at Hawkesdale, early 1890s.  Photographer: Sydney Herbert Edwards. 

The photo shows Charles on the left,  seated are Ellen and one of the daughters, possibly Nellie. Son Charles is at the back and Norton is lying on the ground.

State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/88

Charles was an original Committee member of the Mornington Farmers Society from 1856, a Cranbourne Shire Councillor from 1869 to 1884 and Shire President on four occasions. Charles and his brother, Thomas, bred horses, amongst their other agricultural pursuits. As he had many children, Charles was interested in having a school established in the area and was one of the local land owners to sign a petition for its establishment. Subsequently, Yallock State School No. 2629 (later called Koo Wee Rup State School) was opened on November 1, 1884 at Bethune's Road.

Hawkesdale, Koo Wee Rup, 1890s. 

I presume this is the building described as 'the dairy, meat room and buggy rooms' in the sale advertisement, below.

Photo shows Norton, Claude, Nellie, Charles and their cousin, Zillah. Charles and Zillah married in 1899.

State Library of Victoria Image H82.96/45

The Hawkesdale property was put up for auction in November 1898, by Charles’ executors. It was described at the time as being only two miles from the Koo Wee Rup Railway Station. There was a good four roomed brick house, kitchen and kitchen bedroom, 2 pantries, a large building comprising a dairy, meat room and 2 buggy rooms; 10 stalled cow shed, refrigeration room, good orchard. There was a State School and creamery adjoining the property and it was one of the finest farms in the district.

The sale of Hawkesdale. 

The Australasian November 12, 1898

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138667979

After the farm was sold, Ellen went to live with her son, Norton, in Hedley (near Welshpool)

We are lucky that a member of the Rossiter family donated some family photos to the State Library, so we can get  a snap shot of their life at Hawkesdale and other properties. The photos were given by Mrs Leila Trickey (1908 - 1985) the daughter of Claude Rossiter.

* I had some trouble confirming the relationship between Mary and Ellen O'Shea and John O'Shea, but  a comment left on this post by G. Sibbald explains it - I am a descendant of Charles and Ellen Rossiter. Mary Ann Josephine O'Shea and and Ellen Teressa O'Shea are indeed sisters. Sarah O'Shea was not their mother. Their mother's name was Mary Josephine Ryan. I believe that Sarah O'Shea nee Fitzgerald was John O'Shea's second wife. Mary Ann and Ellen's brothers John and George died in Victoria in 1848 and 1852 respectively. John and Sarah had sons David and Edward, half brothers of the above, who were born in Victoria. Thank you!

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