Local History blogs and Casey Cardinia Eponyms

This blog has been nominated for a "Ancestor Approved" by Linda Barraclough of Old Gippstown Museum and Kapana Press, the publisher of the Gippsland Heritage Journal. The "Ancestor Approved" blog idea was started by Leslie Anne Ballou of the Ancestors Live here blog. The idea is that if you are nominated then you nominate a further ten blogs and write ten things that you have found out about your ancestors that surprised, humbled or enlightened you. However as this is a Local History Blog, not a Family History blog, then I thought I would tell you instead about all the place names in Casey Cardinia which are eponyms or named after people.

One of the first blogs I came across, which really inspired me was the Sandusky History blog created by the the Sandusky Library Archives Research Centre in Ohio (pictured left in 1905) Find it at http://sanduskyhistory.blogspot.com/ – you will recognise the template as it is a popular choice for historic blogs – and I was, and still am, really impressed by the content. 

Here is a list of Casey Cardinia Eponyms - Places named after People, who are after all, just someone's Ancestors or relatives - 

Bayles - Frederick Bayles (1884-1915) was the first member of the Railway Construction Branch to be killed in World War One. Frederick arrived in Melbourne in August 1913, enlisted on August 20th,1914 and was Killed in Action at Gallipoli on May 8th, 1915. Bayles was the name of the Railway Station closest to the Yallock Settlement, and soon gave it's name to the town which developed around the Station. 

Beaconsfield - Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield, was the British Prime Minister in 1868 and from1874-1880. Beaconsfield was previously called Little Berwick. 

Cannons Creek - The Cannon family were early European settlers. They owned land around current day Glenalva Parade in Cannons Creek. 

Carrington - Carrington was the original name of the Lang Lang Railway Station and the town that developed around the Station. It was renamed Lang Lang in December 1890. Charles Robert Carrington, the third Baron Carrington, was Governor of New South Wales from 1885-1890. Carrington was later created the Marquess of Lincolnshire. 

Casey - The City of Casey was named in honour of Lord Casey (1890-1976). Lord and Lady Casey lived at Edrington in Berwick. Lord Casey was a diplomat, a politician and the Governor General of Australia from 1965 until 1969. 

Catani - Carlo Catani was a Public Works Department Engineer and in charge of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Drainage Scheme from 1893.

Cranbourne - Gunson suggests that Cranbourne was named for Viscount Cranborne (no u), the brother of the British Prime Minister. Viscount Cranborne was born in 1821 and developed blindness as a very small child. He died in 1865, and thus his brother succeeded to the title and then became the Marquis of Salisbury in 1868 when their father died. Salisbury was the British Prime Minister on three occasions between 1885 and 1902. 

Doveton - Captain John Doveton and his wife, Mrs Margaret Doveton, who were first cousins, were early settlers in the area. Doveton was developed by the Victorian Housing Commission in the mid 1950s. 

Garfield - The town was originally called Cannibal Creek and renamed Garfield in honour of the assassinated American President, James Garfield, who was shot July 2 1881 and died September 19, 1881. 

Guys Hill - Named after a former storekeeper. It was initially known as Inebriates’ Hill after a home for male inebriates in the area. It was then known as Commins Hill after an early settler and then finally Guys Hills. 

Hallam - William and Mary Hallam moved to the area in 1856. Hallam is a relatively new name for this area, dating only form 1905. Before that, the district was known as Eumemmerring. 

Lyndhurst - Lyndhurst was named after John Singleton Copley, Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863) who was the Lord Chancellor of England on three occasions between 1827-1846. 

Lysterfield - Named after William Saurin Lyster, one of the early European selectors. It was named in honour of Lyster in the mid 1870s. 

Maryknoll - Father Pooley, a Catholic Priest, established Maryknoll as a rural community based on the principles of religion, family life and co-operative enterprise. The settlement was known as St Marys from 1950 until 1955 when the name was changed to Maryknoll. Mary is the mother of Jesus. 

Menzies Creek - John Menzies, was an early gold prospector, who remained in the area long after other miners had left. 

Mt Burnett - James Charles Burnett was the Surveyor under Major Mitchell. 

Officer - The Officer family, early settlers, owned a ‘square mile’ of land off Browns Road. The Railway Station was originally called Officer’s Wood Siding, due to the timber being cleared from the land and railed to Melbourne as firewood.

Pakenham - There are four possible Pakenhams who may be the source of the name. One source suggests Pakenham is named after Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham (b.1788) who served with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War and was killed in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans. Another source says that Pakenham was named for “General Pakenham who served in the Crimean War”. This is probably Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham (1819-1854) who was killed at Inkermann during the Crimean War. The Lieutenant-Colonel was the son of Sir Hercules Pakenham who was the brother of Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham. There are two other suggested sources for the name. Firstly that it was named for Catherine Pakenham, who was the wife of the Duke of Wellington. Secondly that it was named for “Rev Pakenham of Dublin”. This is most likely the Very Reverend Henry Pakenham, who was Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin from 1843-1864. Catherine and Henry were siblings of Sir Edward and Sir Hercules. Their father was the second Baron Longford. 

Pearcedale - The town was known as Langwarrin or Langwarrin Estate or Old Langwarrin until December 1905 when a meeting of rate payers voted to rename the town Pearcedale after Nathanial Pearce, an early settler.

I have created a full list of place names from the Casey Cardinia region, with their meanings - you can access the list here.  

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High Street Cranbourne in the 1960s.

Cranbourne has grown in the past fifty years from a country town to an outer suburb of Melbourne. In this blog post we will look at some photographs of High Street in the 1960s, when Cranbourne was still a county town. If you have any information about any of the buildings featured in the photographs, then I would love to know.

This is an aerial shot of Cranbourne taken February 3, 1964. (Click on the photograph to enlarge it). On the bottom right is the Cranbourne Racecourse, above the sandpits. The South Gippsland Highway travels past the Racecourse, and up through town, the last major cross-road is Clarendon Street. To the right of the Highway, bordering Clarendon Street, are the three empty blocks where Cranbourne High School was built in 1976. As you can see there is very little development in High Street, the Shopping Centre opened in 1978. On the left of the highway is the subdivision bordered by Clarendon Street and Fairbairn Road and includes Campbell Street, Cranbourne Drive, Cochrane Street and Taylor Street, Lurline Street and Lorna Street.

This is a hairdressing salon, with a big advertisement for Turf cigarettes. Take off the tension with Turf filter tips, it says. These type of prominent cigarette advertisements are as much a thing of the past as vacant blocks of land in High Street are.

In the foreground is a 1960 FB Holden, I am reliably informed. Across the street is a BP garage.

This is taken just a bit further up the street than the previous photograph. The car is thought to be a 1961 EK Holden.

Finally, Kelly's Motor Club Hotel. This building is still a land mark in High Street. A hotel has been on this site since the Mornington Hotel was established in 1860s. The Kelly family operated the Cranbourne Hotel, which was located where the Shopping Centre now is, from around 1917 and at one stage operated both the Cranbourne and the Mornington Hotels. This building was erected about 1926.

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Day trips around Casey and Cardinia

As it is Holiday time I thought you might be interested in a few local day trips. The trips originally featured in the book The Herald Short Tours. I picked it up for $2.00 in a second hand book shop. There is no publication date, but the original owners had annotated the book with the dates on which they did some of the drives, so this puts the date of publication sometime after February 14 1966 (the day we changed to Decimal currency) and April 14, 1968 - the first date listed in the book. It has a number of tours varying in length from 29 miles (about 46 kilometres) to 226 miles (360 kms). Below are some of the drives that take in parts of the City of Casey and Cardinia Shire.





This first trip, Go south to Beauty, covers much of the Shire of Cardinia - it starts at Dandenong then goes through Berwick, Pakenham, onto Bunyip (the easternmost town in the Cardinia Shire) onto Gippsland to Drouin, Triholm, Nyora. We then re-enter the Cardinia Shire at Lang Lang, travel around Western Port Bay to Tooradin, then back to Dandenong via Cranbourne. This would still be a good trip today, it is 150 miles (or about 240 kilometres) though perhaps the part from Dandenong to Pakenham could no longer be described as leisurely. The deviation at Pakenham East (as the town which developed around the Pakenham Railway Station was officially called at this time) onto the back road to Nar Nar Goon is still a good option as it takes you through not only Nar Nar Goon but Tynong, Garfield and Bunyip. Views of French Island can be seen from Lang Lang and Tooradin and Koo-Wee-Rup was once a part of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp but is now the biggest producer of asparagus in Australia.





The second trip, Trip to Fishing Village, which is 82 miles or 131 kilometres also goes through Tooradin. Tooradin is still picturesque and a good spot for a picnic and for fishing, but is no longer a commercial fishing centre. Just out of Tooradin, off the Tooradin Baxter Road, are the three coastal towns of Cannons Creek, Warneet and Blind Bight, on Rutherford Inlet. Cannons Creek and Warneet were initially fishing camps with a few holiday shacks. It was around the late 1960s and early 1970s that the permanent residents moved in. Blind Bight is a newer town, with the first land sales held in 1974. The coastal towns are
well worth a visit as there is significant remnants of coastal vegetation, interesting cliff formations, mangroves and a good spot for bird watching and fishing.

The trip then goes onto Pearcedale, which was known as Langwarrin until 1905. Pearcedale is at the south western end of the City of Casey and is still market garden area. The trip then takes you to Frankston, a popular sea side resort, back to Carrum Downs to Dandenong. Carrum Downs, now in the City of Frankston, was part of the Cranbourne Road Board when it was established in 1860 and in the Shire of Cranbourne Boundaries until the 1994 Council Amalgamations.


Our last trip, the Varied Scenic Run, takes us through the northern section of the City of Casey. It is a run of 60 miles or about 96 kilometres. In the late 1960s you would have seen bushland, new housing areas, market gardens and an occasional orchard. If you done this drive in 1968 and not been back to the area in the intervening 42 years, then you might be surprised to find that your trip along Heatherton Road now takes you through Endeavour Hills. The first land sales for this suburb were held in 1973. In 1968 you would have passed Brundrett's Roses in Narre Warren North which was established in 1926 and is now a Housing Estate. Another surprise would be the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre. The area occupied by the Shopping Centre, which opened in 1980, was a farm in 1968.

The book suggests that this would be an ideal drive to run in a new car or for a new driver. The drive would be a bit busier today than it would have been in 1968, however if it was undertaken in peak hour it would certainly give Learners experience in driving along busy roads!

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Devon Meadows

The Devon Meadows area was part of the Sherwood run, until it was sub-divided by the owner Benjamin Cox in 1912. According to the Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books, Cox purchased 1191 acres (480 hectares) consisting of Allotments 31, 32, 33, 40 & 41 from John Brown (I presume Browns Road was named after him) in 1911 and the next year he purchased the 640 acre Carnmallum Pre Emptive Right. This land is clearly seen in the extract from the Sherwood Parish Plan shown below. A Parish Plan, shows the owners of land after the Crown - the original owner of Allotments 32, 33, 40 & 41 was J. Bruce and Allotment 31 was owned by G.Poole. Cox named his estate Devon Meadows. Cox was from Melbourne and would be described as a developer today, however his occupation was listed in the Rate Books as 'gentleman'

Sherwood Parish Plan showing Benjamin Cox's land holdings -  Allotments  32, 33, 40 & 41 (original owner J. Bruce)  and Allotment 31 (original owner G.Poole)  He also had the  Carnmallum Pre Emptive Right

Advertisement for the Devon Meadows land 

The Argus, September 17 1913

Click here to see the full advertisement http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7289816

There were many advertisements in the papers from 1913 advertising the Devon Meadows Estate, including this one shown above from The Argus  of September 17 1913.  Devon Meadows was advertised to Men of small capital to purchase the one, five, ten or twenty acres for an annual payment less than a rental. According to the advertisement Devon Meadows was also specially suited to French farming. French farmers apparently know that small farms pay best. Other selling points of the land was that is was a good start for new arrivals and even a good birthday investment for the members of your family. The reality was not quite as rosy as the advertisements would have you believe. Rhoda Rawlins*, who we met in the last post, said that many people paid a deposit on the land but couldn't keep up with the payments so the same land was sold over again. Rhoda also said the roads were just winding tracks through the bush and that water was was obtained from the public well near the Hall. In spite of the grandiose advertising if appears that many of the Devon Meadows farms were too small to support a family and many of the men had to find employment in the Cranbourne Sand pits, the Mayfield dairy at Cranbourne and local farms.

However a community soon developed. In 1916 the school was established with an enrolment of 46 pupils. Harriet Bury was the first teacher and by 1932 there were three teachers working in the one room, so an extension was added, another extension was added in 1955 and the school was divided into two rooms. In July 1917, the School held a bazaar and social to raise money for the Red Cross. At times, the Mechanics' Institute was leased to provide additional space for students. This Hall was opened on October 1, 1925 on five acres donated by Benjamin Cox. Funds to repay the debt on the Hall were raised by Sports Days, Balls, Bazaars and Exhibitions. The Sherwood Dramatic and Musical Society of Devon Meadows not only entertained the locals but also raised money for Hall. In 1925 a public telephone was erected at the Five Way store. The phone was connected to the Clyde Exchange.

In the 1930s Devon Meadows also had a Horticultural and Agricultural Society, which as we found out in the last post, ran the local flower show.

The Argus, Friday July 26, 1935, p.3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11751638

Devon Meadows has long had a connection to the horticultural industry with the establishment in 1959 of Faceys Nursery by Rex Trimble. In 1971, the Wood family moved Woodlyn Nursery which had been established in Clayton in 1937 to Five Ways. Devon Meadows is also home to the Schruers Vegetable Farm, a major producer of vegetables including leeks, lettuce, celery and endive. Peter Schreurs had started growing vegetables on his 20 acre (8 hectare) farm in Thompsons Road in Cranbourne in 1958. He purchased the 500 acre (202 hectare) Royston Park in Devons Meadows in 1989. With their farms at Devon Meadows, Clyde and Cora Lynn the family grow vegetables on a scale that most of the original Devon Meadows small farmers could only dream of. There are some interesting videos on the history of the Schreurs Farm and also of vegetable production on their website www.leeks.com.au

*Rhoda was interviewed for the book Uncovering Devon Meadows: a collection of local lives. Published by the Devon Meadows Primary School, 1985.

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Rawlins Cottage, Devon Meadows

Rawlins Cottage, on Worthing Road in Devon Meadows, is listed on the City of Casey Heritage database as well as the National Trust Register. Even though it was only built in the 1920s the suite of buildings are considered significant. The following is from the National Trust significance statement This group of owner-built pole and pug structures of twentieth century date, comprising a farmhouse and outbuildings of 1922 and later, is significant at a State level as an example of primitive structures. They relate to a tradition of pole and pug building which was especially prevalent on French Island from the 1890s, and of earlier wattle and daub structures on both French Island and the Mornington Peninsula. The house itself, the creamery and one shed to the north-east, are substantially of this construction and, though severly decayed, illustrate the method very well. Two other sheds also contain fragments of pole and pug.

Two views of the Cottage, above and below. The photograph, below, clearly shows the construction method. The photographs were taken in 1994.

One of the out-buildings.

The City of Casey Heritage database says the Cottage complex is significant as a rare surviving example in the Devon Meadows area of a farm complex, which illustrates the development of the area as a result of closer settlement during the interwar period. Thomas and Alice Rawlins moved to Devon Meadows around 1920 from Lawloit, between Kaniva and Nhill in the Wimmera district. They moved because Mr Rawlins wanted to go somewhere which had green grass. They had four children Roy, Rhoda, Cyril and Phill. Rhoda was interviewed for the book Uncovering Devon Meadows: a collection of local lives* and she says that when they arrived there was only a little hut on the block and then her father built the house, he dug up the soil around and made the mud and put it in between the sticks. The house consisted of three bedrooms, a lounge and a kitchen and had only kerosine and candles for light. The family milked cows, grew their own vegetables and Mr Rawlins also had a horse and a single furrow plough. The photographs show Thomas (1880-1969) and Alice  (nee Eva Alice Lee, 1877-1956). The photograph of Mrs Rawlins was taken in 1942. In the next post we will look at more of the history of Devon Meadows.

Rawlins Cottage. Mrs Rawlins was obviously a keen gardener, as you can see in the photograph above. She won many prizes in the 1935 Devon Meadows Flower Show.

The Argus Saturday, November 23, 1935 p.18
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11857487

*Uncovering Devon Meadows: a collection of local lives. Published by the Devon Meadows Primary School, 1985.
All photographs are from the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation Archive.

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The mystery of the Quietly Club

I had an email from the Dandenong & District Historical Society asking if I knew anything about the Quietly Club in Berwick. They had received an email on this subject from Maurice Mishkel from Canada, a collector of stamps and envelopes. Maurice had purchased this envelope, below, addressed to Horace Bennett.

I passed the query onto Judith Dwyer and Corrine Brewis of the Berwick Mechanics’ Institute (BMI). The BMI have scanned their Minute Books and Attendance Registers and Judith recognized the art work. The artist was John Warne, a Berwick painter and decorator, who with his brother Charles a plasterer, had started a business in Station Street (now Gloucestor Avenue) Berwick in the late 1880s. In 1901 John married Henrietta Searle, the daughter of Henry and Jane Searle. Henry had operated a blacksmiths on the corner of Wheelers Street and High Street (known as Searle’s Corner) in Berwick from around 1860. Sarah and John had four children - Joseph Thomas (known as Tom) b.1902, Marian Hilda (known as Hilda) b.1904, Jack b.1907 and Samuel Charles b.1910. Tom followed his father and also became a painter and signwriter.

John Warne's illustration from the Attendance Register of June 18, 1894.

From 1893, until she married, Henrietta was the Librarian at the BMI. From the attendance books we know that both Horace and John Warne were regular visitors to the BMI and that John frequently ‘annotated’ the attendance book (see above) Horace’s last visit to the BMI was November 3 1894, and he added Fare the Well after his signature.

Horace's last visit to the Berwick Mechanics' Institute, November 3, 1894.

So what was the Quietly Club? – we don’t know but can only surmise it was a bit of an in-joke with John and Horace and the other lads. Perhaps it was to do with Libraries encouraging silence or the Library may have been quiet after Horace left.

Tarcoola Station is near Pooncarie on the Darling River and was firstly occupied by William Campbell. It was taken over by Charles Nicholson in 1851 and at the time consisted of around 30,000 acres. A series of amalgamations with other properties saw Tarcoola having over one million acres in the 1880s, with 21 workmen employed as well as Managers, cooks, maids, grooms, stable hands, a black smith and Chinese gardeners. Tarcoola was broken up in 1918 into ten leases. We don't know what Horace's role was at Tarcoola. An entry in the Attendance Registers lists Horace as a butcher, so may be that was what he also did at Tarcoola, nor do we know when he arrived at Tarcoola. The only other thing we know about Horace was that he was T.H Bennett, and that it is likely his father was also called Horace.

Horace is listed as a butcher, above, on January 10, 1894 and in the entry, below, of July 18, 1894 there is a reference to Good old Bennett, what price fish, so perhaps he also sold fish?

However as you can see, below,Horace also signed in as H.R.H The Duke of York October 8, 1894 and on November 1 of the same year he was The Humble Horace Bennett - so it does appear he was a bit of a joker.

The entry from March 6, 1894 - there's John Warne's signature and we think Horace Bennett is the father of Horace of Tarcoola. What does B.C.B stand for?

The whole Horace Bennett Quietly Club mystery brings up a few issues – first the importance of networks. There are hundreds of Local History and Heritage Societies in Victoria, many of whom keep in touch through regional networks such as the South Eastern Historical Association. We have our own network here in the Casey Cardinia Region, the Local History Reference Group, who meet quarterly. It’s good to know that if you can’t answer a query, then you can pass it onto someone who may be able to help. Secondly, it brings up the issue that the role technology now plays in Local History – without email we could never have passed around this query so quickly and if the BMI had not decided to scan all their records would Judith and Corrine have had easy access to the original registers and recognized the art work? Scanning has made all these old Registers immediately available at the click of a mouse button and another click can have these images whizzing around the world.

Thanks to Maurice for sharing his envelope and giving Horace Bennett and the Quietly Club a place in our history. I would love to hear from you if you know anything about Horace. The information on Tarcoola Station came from The history of Pooncarie and District by Rob Lans, Thelma Smith and Bill Smith. It was published by the Pooncarie School Centenary & Historical Committee c. 1988.

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Lang Lang

Here are some interesting early views of Lang Lang. The photograph below is the Main Street (Western Port Road) taken in the 1920s. Amongst the shops in the photograph are a a General Store which sold The Argus as well as Texaco products; Tomlinson's Store which sold drapery, footwear and china; Glasscock's Grocery and ironmongery and the Post Office


The Cardinia Shire Heritage Study describes the English, Scottish and Australian Bank Ltd building (above) as one of the more architecturally sophisticated buildings for the district and the era. Its classically inspired rendered two storey parapeted form is unusual for commercial buildings in the Shire's townships. It was built in 1929.

The Masonic Temple was built in 1926. The Lang Lang Lodge, No.236, was consecrated on October 27, 1915 and met in the Mechanics' Institute until their Temple was built. The first Master of the Lodge was William Eason, who was the Head Teacher at Koo-Wee-Rup State School from 1914 to 1936.

The Soldiers Memorial Hall was originally built as a Mechanics' Institute. The original Hall had been built at Tobin Yallock and re-located into the new town of Lang Lang (based around the railway) in the early 1890s. In 1925 the Hall became a Soldiers Memorial Hall and the brick front was added. The Hall burnt down in November 1966.


Finally, a lovely view of Railway Avenue. The construction of the Great Southern Line was responsible for the development of Lang Lang. Lang Lang's fore runner, the town of Tobin Yallock, was based around the intersection of McDonald's Track and what is now the South Gippsland Highway. The nearest railway station to the Tobin Yallock settlement, called Carrington, opened in February 1890 and was re-named Lang Lang in the December.

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