Creeks and Rivers

When you drive along the Princes Highway or the South Gippsland Highway around the Dandenong, Doveton area you cross over the Dandenong Creek and the Eumemmerring Creek. When I do this I try to imagine what the landscape would have looked like to the Early European settlers and the Bunurong People. These water courses were generally the location of the first European settlements as they provided the water needed for the settlers and their livestock.

The Dandenong Creek, taken between 1920 and 1950.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1334

The Dandenong and Eumemmerring Creeks are now, in parts, concreted. These creeks used to run into the Carrum Swamp. Drainage works on the Carrum Swamp began in 1869 when the Carrum outfall drain (now the Patterson River) was created and thus the creeks now flow into this outfall drain. The Dandenong Creek was the site of the Bigning Run (also called  Bangholme or Bangam) taken up in 1837 by Joseph Hawdon. This, plus the neighbouring Ballymarang run, was taken over by the Wedge Brothers in 1839 and the 42 square mile (10,000 hectares) property was known as Banyan waterholes.

The 14 square mile (3,600 hectares)  Eumemmerring Run, based on the Eumemmerring creek, was taken up by Dr Farquhar McCrae (1807-1850) in 1839. Later the same year it was taken over by Leslie Foster  (1818-1900) or John Vesey Fitzgerald Leslie Foster, to give him his full name.  Foster held the run until 1842 when it was taken up by Edward Wilson and James Stewart Johnson who held it until 1846 when Thomas Herbert Power (1801-1873) took it on. The property then went from around the Dandenong Creek/Power Road all the way to Berwick.

Further south, the Clyde creek formed the border of the Mayune and Garem Gam Runs. Mayune was taken up by the Ruffy Brothers  1840, the same year James Bathe and T.J Perry took up the Garem Gam run. Mayune was 32,000 acres or nearly 13,000 hectares and Garem Gam was, in comparison, a tiny 3,200 acres or 1,00 hectares.

This is an aerial taken January 1970 and shows the Clyde Creek. the Creek is the dark line running diagonally from left to right. The road at the top of the photo is Patterson Road and Ballarto Road runs parallel to this at the bottom of the photograph. The Clyde Creek formed the border of the Mayune and Garem Gam Runs (see above).

Further east are the Cardinia and Toomuc Creeks which used to flow into the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp. In 1876, swamp reclamation works carried out by the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp drainage committee created drains which carried the water from these creeks directly to Western Port Bay. Around 1916, Deep Creek was channelled into the Toomuc Creek drain.

This is the Cardinia Creek in its natural state, taken January 1972, at Clyde North/Officer. The creek meanders across the landscape. In the bottom left hand corner is Thompson Road.

Contrast this photograph of Cardinia Creek with the one above; the Cardinia Creek has been 'tamed', no casual meandering across the countryside any more. The aerial was taken in December 1971 and shows the results of the 1876 drainage works carried out by the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp drainage committee talked about above. The drain coming  in from the top left is the channelized Cardinia Creek. This channel meets up with the channelized Toomuc Creek and Deep Creek at the bottom of the photograph. The Toomuc Creek is the one on the left of these drains that comes in at a 45 degree angle at Ballarto Road. Wenn Road crosses this drain. This is just east of the Cardinia township.

There were various runs either side of the Cardinia Creek. Cardinia Creek 1 run (5,120 acres or 2,000 hectares)  was taken up in October 1842 by Robert Henry. The Cardinia Creek 2 run was taken up in September 1838 by Terence O'Connnor. The Gin Gin Bean Station of 7,000 acres  (2,800 hectares) was first leased in 1840 and  then taken over in April 1846 by James Lecky. James Lecky purchased the 640 acre (one square mile) pre-emptive right of Gin Gin Bean in 1855 and built his homestead, Cardinia Park, on the Cardinia Creek, three miles south of Officer. Lecky was also an original member of the Cranbourne Road Board and the Cranbourne Shire Council. The Lecky’s owned the property until the 1930s.

The Cardinia Creek, in its natural state, at Harkaway. Photo not dated, but looks like the 1920s.

State Library of Victoria Image H36420/20

Also on the Cardinia Creek was the 5,760 acre (2,330 hectares) St Germains Run. First leased in February 1845 by James Buchanan it was taken over in January 1848 by Alexander Patterson. Patterson (1813-1896) was an original member of the Cranbourne Road Board when it was established on June 19, 1860 and an original member of the Shire of Cranbourne when it was established February 24, 1868. The current St Germains Homestead was built in 1893.

I.Y.U. Station was the Toomuc Creek. This 12,945 acre (5,200 hectares) Station was first leased in October 1839 by William Kerr Jamieson. In October 1850 William Waddell took over and in June 1866 George John Watson became the owner. Watson (1828-1906) established the Melbourne Hunt Club, which moved to Cranbourne in 1925. The Cardinia Creek and the Toomuc Creek were also the location of two of the earliest hotels in the area – the Gippsland Hotel and the La Trobe Inn (also known as Bourkes Hotel).

 This is the Toomuc outfall drain, created in 1876, taken at Manks Road in July 1938.

Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph.

As we go further east there is the Ararat Creek around which was based the three Ararat squatting runs. Mount Ararat 1, a mere 1900 acres (760 hectares), was taken up in August 1844 by John Dore and Michael Hennessy. Mt Ararat 2, a Station of 16,000 acres (6,400 hectares) was  located six miles east of Pakenham and was south of Mt Ararat 1. Mount Ararat 2 was said to extend to just outside of Drouin. It was first leased in August 1844. There were various leaseholders until April 1870 when John Startup took over. Startup was an original member of the Berwick Road Board which was established September 29, 1862. The third Station was Mt Ararat Creek. This was of 5,120 acres (2,000 hectares) and was first leased in September 1846 by William Walsh.

The Main Drain of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp or the Bunyip River, taken at the Eleven Mile bridge in 1939.

Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph.

The next water course was the Bunyip River. This river originally flowed out over the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp until the sixteen mile (25 kms) long Main Drain, which was dug from 1889 to 1893, took the water directly to Western Port Bay.

Further around the Bay is the Yallock creek, where Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson established the Yallock Station in 1839.  Then further south is the Lang Lang River, the site of the Tobin Yallock or Torbinurruck Station. This was of 1920 acres (770 hectares)  and taken up in July 1839 by Robert Jamieson. In June 1913 the Lubecker Steam dredge started work on this river, described at the time as a ‘wandering creek’ and dredged it to prevent flood waters backing up across areas of the Tobin Yallock Swamp lands.

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Gembrook

Gembrook derived its name from the property owned by early European settler, Albert Le Souef who was the first official settler in the area when he purchased 129 hectares (320 acres) of land in July 1873. He called this property Gembrook Park.  The original Gembrook settlement was south of today’s town and the community that grew around the Ure familys Silver Wells property was to the north of today's town. However, the commercial focus of the town shifted to around the Gembrook Railway Station when it opened as part of the Puffing Billy railway line. The Fern Tree Gully to Gembrook Railway, as it was officially known, was a narrow gauge railway of 2 feet, six inches and opened December 19, 1900.

                           

Gembrook Railway Station, taken between 1920 and 1954.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/2159

Dorfmans Ranges Hotel Gembrook. Wolf Dorfman was licensee between 1935 and 1946.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/4109 

One of the earliest buildings in Gembrook is the Ranges Hotel which was opened in 1902 by John and Jane McMahon. From around 1904, the hotel was operated by brothers,  Fred and Howard Pitt. In 1921 it was taken over by John and Catherine Beacham who transferred the licence to Wolf Dorfman in February 1935. Dorfman transferred the licence to Daphne and Alfred McGregor in 1946.  

 

Another view of the Hotel, most likely taken in the 1940s or 1950s.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/267 

                              

Panorama of Gembrook

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/4110

Other community buildings followed the Hotel -  an Anglican Church opened  in 1905, a Catholic Church in around 1922 and various shops. The Memorial Hall was opened in December 1921 and later a Library and a Meeting Room was built under the Hall, as it was on a sloping block. The Memorial Hall was demolished in 1981 and replaced by a ‘community centre’. 

There was an earlier privately owned hall which, from 1906 until 1915, was used for State School No.2506, which had previously been located in Gembrook North. This School began in 1879 as the part time school No.2110, sharing the same number as Emerald State School,  and became full-time in 1889. Classes took place in the Union Church from 1884 until it moved to the Main Street in 1906. In 1915, a new building was built and the School moved to its current location.  There were four other Gembrook Schools -  Pakenham Upper School, No.2155, was called Gembrook South from 1879 until 1916, when it was renamed Pakenham Upper. It became part of Pakenham Consolidated School in 1951.  Gembrook West, No.3211, operated for just over a year from August 1894 until October 1895. The second Gembrook West School, No.4073, operated from 1921 until 1923. Finally Gembrook South East, No. 3468, opened half time with Nar Nar Goon North in March 1904 and closed in December 1908.

Finally, Gembrook is the home of the Gilwell Scout Camp, established in 1926 and visited by Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Scots movement,  in 1931 and 1935. 

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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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German settlers at Harkaway

Many of Harkaway’s first European settlers were German Lutherans and in this post we look at some of these families. As we will discover many of these families were connected not only by their faith but by inter- marriage. Most of this information comes from Early Days of Berwick (henceforth referred to as Early Days)  and Early Settlers of the Casey Cardinia District. According to  Early Days the first of these settlers was Johann Gottlieb Scholz (1807-1884) and his wife Eleanor (nee Fellenberg 1807-1887). The couple and their eight children had arrived in South Australia in 1838, where their last child was born. They settled in Harkaway in 1844. The next year, John Martin Friedrich Fritzlaff came to the area, left to try his fortune on the gold fields and was apparently successful as he retuned, with his wife Johanna (nee Reiger 1825-1917) and purchased land with Wilhelm Wiese, a carpenter and builder, in 1855.  Fritzlaff established the first Post Office and store in Harkaway.

State Library of Victoria image Image H36420/11. Labelled 'The 1st house in Harkaway' 

Photographer E.J Frazer. 

Also around 1855 Gustav Koenig (1817-1887) arrived and ran a dairy farm. Koenig gave his name to Koenig Road, which was anglicised to King Road around the First World War, due to anti-German sentiment. His first wife, Charlotte (nee Weidenberg) died on the voyage out to Australia and his second wife Henrietta (nee Finger) died in 1863, aged 37, having given birth to nine children in the thirteen years of their marriage. Joseph Walsdorf (1803-1881) was another early settler. He and his wife Agnes Schmitt (1810-1889) lived ‘on the gully at the back of Harkaway’, according to Early Days. Their daughter, Christina married Henry Edebohl (1826-1904). He was a road contractor, bridge builder and a farmer and the source of the name Edebohls Road.

Henry Bruhn (1816-1908) brought 120 acres in Harkaway in 1856, which he farmed with his wife Caroline (nee Hubner 1833-1917) Also in the same year Carl Metzenthein (1815-1901)  bought land on the bank of the Cardinia Creek at Harkaway. Carl had seven children from his first wife, Auguste Schultz (or Scholts) and another four by his second wife Johannes Weniger. Reinhold (1846-1909) the son of the first marriage was a boot maker in Berwick and according to the story in Early Days, in 1869 evangelist, Mr A.J Hamill, called in to have his boot repaired as he was walking back to Prahran after preaching in Pakenham. Mr Hamill began to preach the gospel and at a later visit he baptised Reinhold and his wife Elisabeth (nee Meyer) in the Cardinia Creek and they congregation grew and became the Church of Christ.

State Library of Victoria Image H36420/9. Labelled 'Post Office Harkaway. 
Photographer E.J Frazer.

J.F Wilhelm Aurisch (1826-1911) was married to Caroline Tschirner (1835-1871) the daughter of Harkaway pioneers Gottfried and Rosina Tschirner who built the original farmhouse at Rowallan Farm in Harkaway.  Wilhelm’s brother Johann Gottlob Aurisch (1817-1898) also arrived  in 1854 and they each purchased part of the original 640 acres purchased by Dr Wanke in 1853 (more of the Wanke family later). Johann was married to Dorothea Scholz, the daughter of original settlers Johann and Eleanor Scholz. Another Aurisch brother, Carl (1818-1901) also came to Harkaway, with his wife Christine (nee Wolfe). They had four children.

John Jacob Meyer (1808-1882) arrived in Australia in 1852 with his second wife Sabine (nee Schwarz) who sadly died the next year. His son Benjamin, from his first marriage, had attended the Academy of Hofyl in Switzerland, an experimental school established by Gottlieb Fellenberg, the father of Eleanor Scholz. Benjamin was a builder who built many local houses and in 1868 married Auguste Metzenthin, the daughter of Carl and Auguste and the sister of Reinhold. Reinhold in the same year married Elisabeth Meyer, the half sister of Benjamin.

Ernst Gottlob Wanke (1823-1897) was a medical student who had nearly finished his degree when he came to Australia as a ships doctor. Like many others, he deserted from the ship in Melbourne and went to the gold fields, before buying land in Harkaway in 1853.He was known as Dr Wanke and according to Early Days, his medical knowledge was of great value to the Harkaway settlers. Dr Wanke also donated land for the Church and the school and served on the Cemetery Trust. Ernst Wanke Road is named after him. His first wife and child had died in Germany and he came out with his second wife, Pauline (nee Schurmann 1822-1904). They had one son, Immanuel (1856-1934) who married Bertha Aurisch, the daughter of Wilhelm and Caroline Aurisch.

State Library of Victoria Image H36420/13. Labelled 'Wanke's dairy farm, Harkaway'

Photographer E.J Frazer. 

Dr Wanke’s brother, Johann Gottlieb Wanke (1814-1889) also came to Harkaway.  He was married to Helena Muller and they had five children. Their daughter, Caroline married another local settler, Peter Erdmann (1827-1872) who arrived in 1853 and had land in A’Beckett Road in Narre Warren North and was one of the original trustees for the Harkaway Lutheran Church. Ida Erdmann, a daughter of Peter and Caroline, married Charles Weist (1859-1941) who had  a block of land near the Harkaway cemetery.

Halleur Road is named after Rudolf Halleur (1826-1912, or von Halleur as Early Days calls him.) He arrived in Australia in 1852, deserted his ship and went to the gold fields, then settled in Harkaway in 1858.  He married Johanna Scholz (1838-1932) another daughter of Johann and Eleanor. He was a sail maker by trade and turned this skill into making harnesses and boots. Rudolf and Johanna had nine children.

Johann Hillbrich (or Hillbrick, 1814-1899) purchased land in Hessel Road in 1855, where the family operated a dairy farm. This property was then passed onto son, Ernst (1842-1914) and then to his son Stanley, who farmed the land until 1959 when it was sold out of the family. It is now part of Timbarra Estate. Johann was married to Maria Wagner (1821-1888) and they had ten children.

Hessel Road was named for Jacob Hessel (1833-1904) the inaugural teacher at the Harkaway State School when the Harkaway Lutheran School was taken over by the Education Department in 1876. The Lutheran School had started in 1856 with Traugott Friedrich Warmbrunn (1803-1885) as the original teacher, though it is believed that Eleanor Scholtz taught local children before that. Warmbrunn was very active in the Lutheran community, but his teaching career was hampered by his lack of English, so he had to resign, however he remained in Harkaway. The next teacher was Carl Hubner, who took over in 1857. Once again, his poor English meant he had to resign, which he did in 1861. Jacob Hessel started at the school in 1862 and was there until 1883.

State Library of Victoria  Image H36420/10. Labelled 'State School Harkaway'. 

Photographer E.J Frazer. 

Other German Harkaway settlers included Gustav Warmbrunn (1836-1912), the son of the teacher, who lived near the School in the 1860s according to Early Days. He was married to Wilhelmina Scholz, another daughter of the original pioneers, Johann and Eleanor. Wilhelmina (1840-1928) gave birth to eleven children. Lotha Schmidt had a vine yard and winery in Harkaway. August  Dubberke (known as Martin, 1843-1926) settled in Victoria in 1864 and farmed at Harkaway. He was married to Augusta (c.1845-1913), daughter of Johann and Helena Wanke.  Carl Ernst August Fleer (1832-1904) was a baker and also had a small farm at Harkaway. He was married to Emma Metzenthin (1841-1927) another daughter of Carl and Auguste. Peter Rumph (1820-1895) and his wife Catherine (nee Chenmel 1831-1879) purchased their land in 1854. He was a builder and helped build the Berwick Inn. Another settler with a connection to the Berwick Inn is Wilhelm Braun (c. 1827-1919) also known as William Brown. He married Ellen Barry (c. 1836-1918) in 1855 and they had eight children.. He arrived in Berwick in 1854, worked on local farms and was also a builder and brick maker. His bricks were used in the newer parts of the Hotel, the two storey sections added in 1877 and 1887.

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Frog Hollow Reserve, Endeavour Hills

Frog Hollow Reserve in Endeavour Hills has a number of sporting fields and is also an established wetlands  and  provides  a significant environmental and landscape corridor along the southern fringe of Endeavour Hills. The land has always been a bit swampy, low lying and  flood prone, due to its proximity to the Eumemmerring Creek, as well as a frog habitat and thus the name Frog Hollow was suggested by Cr Keith Wishart for the Reserve.* When the Reserve was first proposed around 1986, it was called the Hallam North Road Recreation Reserve. Frog Hollow is much more picturesque and sounds like something you would find in The Wind in the Willows.   These photographs were all taken by the City of Berwick.

These two photographs, above and below, were taken in May 1993, before replanting.

 There has been substantial planting of indigenous species since the establishment of the Reserve - the photograph above was taken in  August 1993. This planting has been continued by the Friends of Frog Hollow, which was established in 2002. The Friends have planted over 60,000 native trees.

September 1994.

Pavillion at Frog Hollow, taken September 1994.

This photograph is labelled ' Eumemmerring creek works opposite Frog Hollow' and was taken in September 1994. The friends of Frog Hollow are currently advocating for a walking/cycling track from Frog Hollow to Lysterfield Lake; this link should also improve wildlife habitat. There is an interview with Stephen Hallett, the President of the Frog Hollow Friends Group, which is part of the 52 stories in 52 weeks project, initiated by the Federal Member for Holt, Anthony Byrne. Click here for the link to the interview.
If the link doesn't work, you can find the interview, plus some other interesting interviews with local people who volunteer their time to make a difference to the Community at http://anthonybyrnemp.com and then click on Media.

*Place names of Berwick by Debbie Stephan (City of Casey Historical pamphlet 3, November 1994)

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Local shopping strips

These are  photographs of local strip shopping centres, taken mainly in 1990s, by the City of Berwick. This is how we all used to shop before the arrival of the large shopping centres - if you grew up in Victoria, then you would know that Chadstone was the first of these big centres, it opened in 1960 and it is apparently so big now that I wouldn't be surprised if you can see it from the moon.  Locally,  the Centro Shopping Centre in Cranbourne  and the Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre both opened in 1979 and Fountain Gate Shopping Centre in 1980.

This is Autumn Place in Doveton, 1992.

 This is Spring Square in Hallam in 1992.To see another photograph of Spring Square, click here.

Webb Street in Narre Warren, taken 1992.

Webb Street in Narre Warren. I am not sure of the exact date of this picture, but it is around the early 1990s. You can see the old Railway signal box in the background.

High Street in Berwick, 1992. To see more photographs of High Street click here.

This is an earlier shot of High Street, taken in 1975.

If you want to see  photographs of the local shopping strip at Pakenham, then click here,  or in Cranbourne, then click here

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Cardinia Creek at Soldiers Road, Beaconsfield

The first four photographs, below, are of the Cardinia Creek at Soldiers Road, taken in the late 1970s. They also show the old wooden bridge which was replaced around 1980 with a wider, concrete bridge. Bucolic, riparian and nostalgic are words that spring to mind to describe these photographs.  They were taken by the City of Berwick.

This is the construction of the new Soldiers Road bridge and shows the Beaconsfield Railway Station in the background.

 Above and below, the circa 1980 concrete bridge on Soldiers Road,  over the Cardinia Creek.

Utilitarian and functional are the words that spring to mind to describe this scene.

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