How old is your town?

You may be aware that is 150 years since Cranbourne was officially proclaimed as a township and that celebrations are planned for later in the year. This is a great milestone and well worth celebrating, however it does bring up the question as to old your town really is and what do we actually use as the ‘start date’

We could use the dates in the Victorian Government Gazette, which covers all official notifications of Government and Legal activities and was the main way that the Government communicated with the Public. The first mention of Cranbourne in the Gazette was on October 31, 1855 when Alexander Duff was appointed Deputy Registrar of Births and Deaths for the Cranbourne and Dandenong District. On October 23, 1856 Trustees were appointed for the land set apart at Cranbourne for the use of the Presbyterian Church – these Trustees were Alexander Cameron, Patrick Thompson, Alexander Patterson, James Leckie and Angus Kennedy.

Victorian Government Gazette dated Friday October 24, 1856, Issue 137, Page 1786.

Two years later on November 29, 1858 The Right Reverend James Goold, The Reverend Patrick Niall, Edward Malloy, Terence O’Connor and James Feehan were appointed Trustees for the site for a Roman Catholic School at Cranbourne.

Victorian Government Gazette dated December 3, 1858, Issue 164, Page 2445.

The Trustees which were appointed for the Cemetery site on December 11 1857 were Alexander Cameron, Patrick Thomson, James Smith Adams, William Sykes and Edward Malloy. Niel Gunson writes in his book Good Country: Cranbourne Shire that Cranbourne was surveyed by H.B Foot in 1852 and the Cranbourne township was ‘reserved’ and that the township lots were surveyed in 1856 and the first sale of town lots held March 25, 1857. The Cranbourne Road Board was proclaimed on June 19, 1860. All these events took place before the township was officially proclaimed on February 25, 1861.

A similar story can be seen at Berwick where the first mention in the Government Gazette was February 9, 1859 when Trustees were appointed for the site of the Roman Catholic School – once again the Right Reverend J. Goold, the Reverend Patrick Niall and Terence O’Connor were appointed as was Edward Malloy and James Feehan. On March 12, 1860 Matthew Brisbane was appointed a Deputy Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Berwick. July 25, 1860 Charles Rossiter, James Feehan, John Brisbane, Abram Gardiner and Adam Ritchie were appointed Berwick Cemetery Trustees.

Victorian Government Gazette dated August 3, 1860, Issue 95, Page 1440.

The book Early Days of Berwick states that the Berwick District, like Cranbourne, was surveyed by H. B Foote in 1852. In 1857 the Berwick Branch of the Mornington Farmers Society was established, the same year the first show was held at Cranbourne. As you can see all these events happened before the township was officially proclaimed on February 25, 1861.

In fact February 25, 1861 was a day when 188 townships were proclaimed – other Casey Cardinia towns (or close neighbours) were Buneep (the old abandoned town on the Bunyip River which would now be considered Tonimbuk), Dandenong, Emerald, Lyndhurst and Pakenham. So Happy Birthday to all these towns and in the end it doesn’t matter what date we use to signify the start of our towns – the important thing is that we preserve and celebrate our history.

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Victoria Government Gazette

For those of us interested in local and family history there is a fantastic new on-line resource available. The Victoria Government Gazette and its predecessors have been digitised for the years 1836 to 1997. The Gazette covers all official notifications of Government and Legal activities and was the main way that the Government communicated with the Public.

Family Historians will immediately go to an index or type in a family name in any database, so I naturally typed in one of my family names Weatherhead. I came up with a patent application by my great grandfather Horatio William Weatherhead, a saw miller, for an improved mechanism for operating the throttle or cut off valves of engines from their governors. The notice goes on to say that the Commissioner of Patents, Thomas Prout Webb, accepted the ‘complete specification’ of the patent application, on the 13th day of August, 1890. We knew that Horatio was quite inventive and that this trait has been passed down to his descendents, but I was surprised to discover that he had been granted a patent.

Victorian Government Gazette August 15th, 1890 issue 66, page 3253.

Horatio Weatherhead (1853-1925). Horatio and his six sons arrived in North Tynong in 1909, having previously operated saw mills in Lyonville. He was living in Lyonville when he applied for his patent.

Image: Rouse family collection.

Your ancestor may not have applied for a patent, but there could be a record of their appointment or dismissal from a Government position, they may have been granted a miners right, become insolvent, been granted land, applied to register a trade mark, became a Cemetery Trustee or many other activities.

For local historians you can find out information about your area. I found seven references to Cora Lynn and discovered the town was officially proclaimed on May 31st 1910. I also found a set of rules and regulations governing the use of the Recreation Reserve at Cora Lynn.

Victoria Government Gazette, February 8th 1933, issue 22, p. 632.

Aerial of the Cora Lynn Recreation Reserve, taken August 1960. The football was on and you will see lots of water lying in the surrounding paddocks. The Main Drain is at the front of the picture.

For larger towns, such as Cranbourne, there are over 1500 references in total referring to both the township and the Shire. Much information can be gained from the Gazette concerning the day to day working of a Shire, including land use, staff appointments, by-laws and loan applications.

Victoria Government Gazette, January 3rd 1890, issue 1, p.54.

The Cranbourne Market operated from the 1870s to the 1930s, it was covered by the by-laws published in the Victoria Government Gazette.



The Shire of Cranbourne was formed in 1868 and the Municipal Buildings at Cranbourne were built in 1875. The building housed a Post Office, Court House and Shire Offices.

The Victoria Government Gazette can be found at http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/ You can download or save each Gazette as a PDF and print off relevant pages.

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