Western Port - a short history of early European activity

Both the Cardinia Shire and the City of Casey have Western Port as part of their border. The Bay has been a popular recreation spot for many of us over the years - for instance, we used to go to the beach at Tooradin when I was young; Dad and my uncle had a boat so they used to water ski down there, and Dad used to go fishing there as well. These activities would have been repeated by many local families since the European settlement of the region. Further afield, Phillip Island continues to be a holiday destination for many locals. The Bay has also been used commercially by fishermen. What follows is a short history of the Bay since the arrival of  the Europeans.

Western Port Bay was 'discovered' by George Bass (1771-1803)  on January 5, 1798. Bass had left Sydney (Port Jackson) on December 3, 1897 with the purpose of discovering whether a strait existed between Tasmania (Van Diemen's land) and the mainland. As we know the Strait did exist and it was named after him. Bass named Western Port thus as it was the most westerly port that was known at the time - or as he wrote in his journal I have named the place, from its relative situation to every other known harbour on the coast, Western Port. Bass navigated around what was to be called Phillip Island, but did not realise that the land mass that became known as French Island, was indeed, also an island. They were also unaware of Port Phillip Bay - I wonder what Western Port would have been called if they were. The journey was a remarkable feat of navigation and enterprise, the party was away for eleven weeks, had eked out the original six weeks of supplies they took with them, they sailed 600 miles of uncharted coast line all in an open boat that was only 28 feet, 7 inches (8.7 metres) long.

After Bass, the next official  European activity was carried out in the Lady Nelson, under Lieutenant James Grant (1772-1833) - they arrived  at Western Port on March 21, 1801. The crew planted a garden on Churchill Island and they charted the Bay. The Lady Nelson returned in December 1802 under First Lieutenant John Murray (1775-1803) and harvested the wheat crop planted by Grant the year before, and on January 5,  1802 they 'discovered' Port Phillip Bay. In April 1802, the French Captain Hamelin in the Naturaliste reached Western Port and circumnavigated  and mapped French Island. Hamelin was part of a French expedition, under the command of Thomas Nicholas Baudin, whose mission was to map the Australian coast and undertake scientific studies. Baudin was in the Geographe.

Oyster breeding park, Rutherford Creek, Western Port Bay

State Library of Victoria Image A/S22/09/84/15

The French interest in this region prompted the British Government to establish, in 1803,  a settlement at what is now Sorrento, under Lieutenant Governor David Collins (1756-1810). In Western Port, enterprising sealers had moved in - seals were hunted for their skins and their oil. Sealers also abducted Aboriginal women, to act a sex slaves and to exploit their hunting knowledge. In 1826,  the British sent the Dragon, under the command of Captain Samuel Wright and the Fly, under the command of Captain F. Wetherall to Western Port, they landed at what is now Rhyll and claimed formal possession on December 3, 1826 and on December 12 they claimed formal possession of a site near Corinella. At Corinella, a settlement was soon established - gardens, roads, wells, buildings including Government House, military barracks, storehouse, hospital, blacksmiths, stables etc - most of the labour was supplied by the 21 convicts. This was a short lived settlement and was abandoned in January 1828.

Captain Wetherall's 1826 map of Western Port

Source: Western Port Chronology 1798-1839: Exploration to Settlement by Valda Cole (see below)

Later on pastoral settlements took place - in 1835 Samuel Anderson (1803-1863) and Robert Massie settled on the Bass River.  Moving  around to the Bay, to the area now covered by Casey and Cardinia - in 1839 Robert Jamieson and Samuel Rawson settled at the Yallock Station, on the Yallock Creek. Frederick and Charles Manton took up Manton's Old Station in 1840; the Balla Balla run was taken up by Robert Innes Allen in 1839; Thomas Rutherford took up the station (Bourbinandera) based around what was to be known as Rutherford Inlet in 1842; the Lang Waring run was taken up in 1843 by William Willoby. Later on, from around the 1850s,  all these  large runs were broken up and sold and other European settlers arrived.

These are aerials of the top section of Western Port, taken January 22 1970 - not exactly what the early Europeans would have seen, but I can never resist using an aerial photograph! You could only imagine what these early explorers and cartographers would say if they could see the land they charted today, from an aerial or satellite image. The township is Warneet. The land mass on the left is Quail Island, Rutherford Inlet separates Quail island from Chinamans island. Quail island was originally known as Harris Island, it was named for Surgeon John Harris, member of the N.S.W Corps. Chinamans Island was so named as Chinese fishermen were said to live on the island.

This is Warneet, again, and Cannons Creek. We also see the top of Quail Island and Rutherford Inlet.

The land mass on bottom right is Quail Island, with Watson Inlet to the left. From the middle top, there is an L-shaped road - this is Craigs Lane. The road running down to a creek/inlet on the right is Vowell Drive.

This connects to the aerial above - on the right is Vowell Drive. On the left is Tyabb-Tooradin Road and Callanans Lane, this forms a triangle, where the Pearcedale Conservation Park and  Moonlit Sanctuary is located. There is Watson Inlet, part of the Yaringa Marine National Park, again. The inlet is named after  John Watson, whose property 'Freehall', was near to the Inlet.  John Watson was the owner of considerable property in the Parish of Tyabb, a prominent citizen and a member of the Mt. Eliza District Road Board. A Mornington Peninsula Shire  Council Ward is named after him (Personal correspondence from historian, Valda Cole)

Sources:

• Western Port Chronology 1798-1839: exploration to settlement by Valda Cole (Shire of Hastings Historical Society, 1984)  The book looks at the European activity at Western Port prior to the establishment of Melbourne. 
• The Western Port Settlement and it leading personalities by Keith Bowden (South Eastern Historical Association, 1970) The book looks at the Western Port settlement at Corinella in 1826. It includes a full list of the 21 prisoners with personal details and has information about many of the military personnel.

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Cannons Creek, Warneet and Blind Bight - Part 2

In our last blog post we talked about the two squatting runs, Kilmore and Balla Balla. These two runs were eventually broken into smaller farms and one of these farms was developed as the township of Blind Bight. The development was approved in 1968 and the first 80 blocks were sold in 1974. Two years later there were 13 residents and in 1981 just over 60, and by 1987 around 320. A Progress Association was formed in 1976, Foreshore Committee in 1982, a general store opened in 1986. Warneet and Cannons Creek had a similar start to each other in that they began as fishing camps with a few holiday shacks and it wasn’t until the late 1960s – early 1970s that most of the permanent residents moved in.

In the previous blog post we showed a part of Maritime Chart Aus 151, which covered much of the same area as this October 1986 aerial photograph. In the centre left of the photograph is Rutherford Inlet, to the left is part of Quail Island. The island in the centre is Chinaman Island, immediatley above it is the township of Warneet. At the top of the photograph, towards the right, is Cannons Creek township.

Now is a good time talk about about the place names used in the area. In 1920 the Cranbourne Shire Rate books list the address of an early resident of the area, Nicola Nicolella as Pearcedale, though the year before it had listed the previous owner of the land as living in Tooradin. This fluidity of names went on for a few years as the first Warneet land sales in 1930 were listed as Cannons Creek or Watson’s sub-division and Warneet didn’t appear in the Rate books until 1933, and the area was locally known as Crouch’s Beach after Les Crouch. The name Cannons Creek most likely comes from the Cannon family. William Cannon is first listed in the Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books in 1871, owning one acre in the Parish of Sherwood. In 1874 he is listed as owning 12 acres and Thomas Cannon owning 20 acres with a house. They are both fishermen and both disappear from the Rate Books after 1883. Quail Island is named after the birds on the island and Chinaman Island is named because Chinese fishermen were said to live on the Island.

Early land owners of Cannons Creek included Sir Aaron Danks, a merchant who is listed in the Rate Books from 1920 until he died in 1928. His land was sub-divided in early 1930s. Sir Aaron was the son of John Danks, who founded the hardware firm John Danks & Son in 1859. This Company now owns Home Timber and Hardware. Sir Aaron, was a devout Methodist and donated £6000 in 1919 to the Methodist Church to buy the property in Richmond which housed the original Epworth Hospital. As we mentioned before, the fisherman, Nicola Nicolella also purchased land in the area in 1920 (and was listed as a landowner until 1944) and Lancelot Watson owned land from 1925 and it was some of his land which was sub-divided for the first Warneet land sales in 1930. The Watson name features thrice more in the history of Cannons Creek. Bert Watson is said to be the first permanent resident on Cannons Creek and he built a house in Hardy Avenue in 1940. Bonnie Watson left land to the people of Cannons Creek and this is now called the Bonnie Watson Bushland Reserve. I haven’t worked out how these Watsons are connected, so if you know, then I would be interested in hearing. Watsons Inlet, further around Western Port Bay, is named after James H. Watson who visited Quail Island in 1866.

The view up Rutherford Inlet from Oliver's  jetty, built in 1955.

Image: Heather Arnold

Oliver's Jetty, Cannons Creek

Image: Heather Arnold

It was in the late 1940s and early 1950s that weekend and holiday shacks were built in Cannon’s Creek. A small community developed and in 1955 the small private jetty was built, by Gus D’Oliveira (also known as Oliver) and others, which is still being used by the Community today and maintained by his son Bill Oliver, a Cannons Creek identity. The jetty is pictured above.

Update February 2020 - Oliver's Jetty was demolished in October 2011.  As it was a private jetty, Bill Oliver was given the option of repairing, maintaining and insuring the jetty or demolishing it and he choose to demolish it. [Information from Don Jewell, February 2020 and also see Cannon's Creek Foreshore Coastal Management plan, here] It seems a shame that whatever Government Department was in charge of jetties that they couldn't find a way to keep it for the sake of history.

In 1925 Les Crouch established a bush camp and a boat shed at Warneet, the Crouch family later purchased land at the 1930 Warneet land sales. The Crouch family built their first house on what is now the corner of Rutherford Parade and Balaka Street. Les and Lillian Crouch's daughter, Peggy Banks was a resident of Warneet until her death in 2008 and Bank Street is named after her and her husband, Lionel Banks. Les Crouch was a prominent member of the Warneet community, helped build the first jetty and slip way in the 1930s and was the first President of the Warneet Progress Association which was formed in 1945, and the inaugural Commodore of the Warneet Motor Yacht Club when it began in 1952 with thirty four Foundation members.



If you want more information on Cannons Creek, Warneet or Blind Blight,
then borrow the book Tooradin : 125 years of coastal history - Blind Bight, Cannons Creek, Dalmore, Sherwood, Tooradin North and Warneet. Published by the Tooradin celebrates together 125 years Education Committee in 2000. It is an interesting book that covers the history of Tooradin Primary School No. 1503, including a list of students who attended Tooradin, Tooradin North and Dalmore schools. It also covers early families in the area and the general history of Tooradin and the six other towns listed in the title. This book is an updated version of Tooradin: a history of a Sportsman's Paradise and the first 100 years of State School No. 1503 by David Mickle, published 1975.

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Cannons Creek, Warneet and Blind Bight - Part 1

Cannons Creek is a small town on Rutherford Inlet, Western Port Bay. On the other side of Rutherford Inlet is Warneet and further around Chinaman Island, off Gentle Annie Channel, is Blind Bight.

Part of Maritime chart Aus 151, Published by the Hydrographic Service, Royal Australia Navy 1994. The yellow is land, the green represents mud or low tide . Click on the picture to enlarge it and you can clearly see Chinaman Island, Quail Island, Rutherford Inlet and Gentle Annie Creek.

This area was originally covered by two Squatting runs, Balla Balla also known as Allen’s Station and the Bourbinandera Run. Balla Balla was originally 6,000 acres (2,430 hectares) and first leased by Robert Innes Allen in 1839. The Lease was transferred to C.J Haslewood in 1848, in 1850 the run was reduced to 3,840 acres (1,400 hectares) and the lease was transferred to Henry Foley, two years later to Henry Jennings, in 1854 to Dr James Smith Adams and in 1872 to Alexander McLean Hunter, who also had the lease on Quail Island. Dr Adams purchased the Tobin Yallock run in 1858. Tobin Yallock was of 10,000 acres (4,050 hectares) took in the area around the modern town of Lang Lang. Quail Island, of 2000 acres (810 hectares), was proclaimed a wildlife sanctuary in 1928 and is now a site of Geological and Geomorphological significance. It has State significance as it is the least disturbed mangrove and salt marsh area on the mainland shore of Western Port Bay. The Balla Balla homestead is thought to date mainly from the 1870s and is thus linked to Alexander Hunter, however the earlier part was probably built by Dr Adams and dates from 1856.

These two photographs of the Balla Balla homestead are thought to date from the 1940s or 1950s. The view above shows the side of the house which fronts Western Port Bay and Quail Island. The lower portion is built of English bonded hand-moulded brickwork. The palms are Canary palms. The view below show the stuccoed two story wing. The house is built in Colonial Georgian style.

Balla Balla had various owners after Hunter sold the property in 1885 and when it was sold by the Jackson family in 2002 (they had owned Balla Balla since 1938) the homestead was on 300 acres (120 hectares). The Bourbinandera Run was also known as Rutherfords, after the leasee, Thomas Rutherford who took up the lease in 1842. He also gave his name to Rutherford Inlet. It was transferred to Richard Corbett in 1847 and became known as Kilmore. Rutherford Inlet, like Sawtell Inlet at Tooradin, contributed to the area’s reputation as a Sportsman’s Paradise, due to their good fishing. This fact is reflected in the original name of Fisheries Road which leads to Cannons Creek – which was Fisherman’s Road.

 In our next blog post we will look at the more recent history of the area.

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