The Grange, Harkaway

The Grange was built  for the Honourable William Arthur Callandar A'Beckett, M.L.C., J.P. (1833-1901) in 1862 or 1866 (depending on sources). It was designed by local architect George Washington Robinson. The house had views over Port Phillip Bay and was off A'Beckett Road, even though the original entrance was from Halleur Road as A'Beckett Road was made after The Grange was built.  A'Beckett married Emma Mills in 1855 and one of their daughters, Emma Minnie (1858-1936), who was an artist married fellow artist, Arthur Merric Boyd (1862-1940).  In 1948, The Grange  was purchased by Arthur and Minnie's son, the author, Martin A'Beckett Boyd (1893-1972) and his nephew, Arthur Boyd (1920-1999) painted murals in the house. Sadly, this grand house was sold in 1955 and then re-sold in 1963 to a Quarry.

On November 26, 1967  photographer, Richard Dunbar, took some photographs of The Grange and the murals and his widow, Margaret has kindly allowed us to reproduce them here. This is a rare opportunity to see the murals, in situ. 

Peter Freeman, the author of Brick Homes of Berwick* saw The Grange before it was demolished and wrote (possibly circa 1963)  It is now owned by the quarry - which owns the whole property, and it is slowly being surrounded by overburden, cracked by heavy blasting work and is bound to be demolished in the near future. It is  a tragic end to a beautiful and historic house. I do not know the exact date The Grange was demolished, but as it was standing in November 1967, then 1968 would be  a likely date. We have a 1970 aerial photograph in the collection and it has certainly been demolished then.

Along with the photographs was this, undated, newspaper article from The Age, written by Geoff Maslin,  about the murals.  In the article, Melbourne Art dealer, Joseph Brown, says that when they removed the murals steel frames had to be made to fit around each section of the four walls and a mobile crane and a semi-trailer were needed to cart them away. At the time the article was written (circa 1990) the murals were being stored at a Canberra warehouse by the National Gallery.

*Brick homes of Berwick by Peter Freeman. We have a photocopy of this typed manuscript in the Archive, it is undated, but written possibly circa 1963.  Mr Freeman looks at The Grange and other early brick homes of Berwick, Harkaway and Narre Warren North.

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Digitised World War One newspapers

The State Library of Victoria has undertaken a project to digitise a number of World War One newspapers and these papers are now available on Trove - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper  With the centenary of the commencement of the War in 2014 it is expected that there will be a huge amount of interest in how our ancestors and our community lived during this time and the  local newspapers will  provide a wonderful resource to both local and family historians. The newspapers were selected to provide as  broad a coverage of Victoria as possible and the papers  for the Casey Cardinia region are the Pakenham Gazette and its forerunner the Berwick Shire News which  have now been digitised from 1914 until 1918 as has the Lang Lang Guardian. The Bunyip Free Press is available from 1914 to 1915. The South Bourke and Mornington Journal has also been digitised previously and also covers much of our region, as does the West Gippsland Gazette.

Berwick Shire News and Pakenham and Cranbourne Gazette  8 September 8,  1915, pg 3

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92095834

The papers recorded sad news such as the death of local soldiers including Private Frank Leigh A'Beckett, who was the son of the grandly named Edward Fitzhayley A'Beckett and his wife, Jane Deodata A'Beckett (nee Bourke). 

Pakenham Gazette and Berwick Shire News   June 15,  1917, page 2

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92153530

The women also played their role in the War effort, some of course served as nurses overseas, but for the women who remained at home they worked on the family farms, fund raised for patriotic causes, joined the Red Cross, or as we can see from this report, knitted sock for the soldiers.

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Casey Cardinia and the Melbourne Grammar connection

I have a collection of second hand books at home, amongst which is Liber Melburniensis 1858-1914. This is a record of all the boys who attended Melbourne Grammar in those years. The school started in 1858 and the first Head Master was the Reverend John Bromby, whom we have met before in this blog as the town of Gembrook is situated on land that was owned by the Reverend John Bromby. Bromby's five sons Christopher, Ernest, Edward Hippius, Frederick Jeremie and Robert Henry also attended the School

Left: Reverend John Bromby.
Johnstone, O'Shannessy & Co. from a lithograph by Fergusson & Mitchell. National Library of Australia, nla.pic-vn3600375

The first pupil at Melbourne Grammar was Edward A'Beckett, the son of Thomas Turner A'Beckett. Edward A'Beckett was the first cousin of W.A.C. (William Arthur Callendar) A'Beckett, the owner of The Grange, built 1866, at Harkaway.

The Grange, Harkaway. Photographer: John T. Collins.

Photo taken November 28, 1965. 

State Library of Victoria Image H97.250/134

Other boys who attended the School and have a Casey Cardinia connection (according to their address after leaving the School) are

A'Beckett, Gilbert Arthur Cecil  (b.1872) of Beaconsfield. Gilbert is the son of Edward Fitzhayley and Jane Deodata (nee Burke) A'Beckett.

A'Beckett, William Gilbert  (b. 1864), son of W.A.C. and Emma (nee Mills) A'Beckett of The Grange, Harkaway.

A'Beckett, Arthur Heywood  (b.1868) of Bunyip. Arthur is also a son of W.A.C and Emma A'Beckett. Arthur purchased a farm in Bunyip around 1895. 

Browne, Eric Cecil  (b.1890) of Beaconsfield 

Burke, Edward Francis (b.1857) of Tynong 

Courtney, William Wilson  (b.1876) of Narre Warren 

Drew, Michael Forristall  (b.1873) of Harkaway 

Fairchild, James Herbert  (b.1871) of Lang Lang

Kent, Robert Anthony  (b.1887), son of Anthony and Mary Ann (nee Hillbrich) of Oatlands, Narre Warren.Two of his brother Alfred and Norman died whilst serving in World War One and are on the Narre Warren War Memorial. 

Lyall, John Mickle Harewood  (b.1869) son of William and Annabella Lyall of Harewood,  Koo Wee Rup

Martin, Alexander Raynes (b.1892) of Tynong.

McGregor, John  (b.1872) son of Duncan and Margaret McGregor of  Dalmore, Koo Wee Rup 

Mein, Pultenay Warford  (b.1876) 

Mein, Douglas Warford  (b.1878) both of I.Y.U Station, Pakenham 

Robinson, William  (b.1865) of Beaconsfield 

Stone, Everard (b.1870) of Monomeith

Were, Clive Wellington   (b.1890) of Officer. Clive was Killed in Action at Gallipoli in World War One and is listed on the Officer Honor Board and the Memorial Gates at the Recreation Reserve (see here) 

Wilkins, George Alva  (b.1887) of Emerald 

This is the IYU  Homestead. It was built in 1859 and destroyed by fire around 1929.

Photograph from: In the wake of the pack tracks, published by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.

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