Parish and Township Plans

Parish and Township Plans are available on the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) website. These Plans are a great resource for both local and family history as they show the ownership of land after the Crown, so if your ancestors purchased land at a Government Land Sales or acquired land through a Closer Settlement or Soldier Settlement Scheme - then you might find their name on a Parish or Township Plan. To access these plans go to the PROV website www.prov.vic.gov.au and on the left hand side of the home page, click on "Access the collection", "Searching", "Search within a Series". The Series number (or VPRS) is 16171. Type in the town or Parish you are interested in. Plans can be saved (they are PDF files) or printed off. Alternatively, if you search by the "Find by Number" option (and type in 16171) then you can browse all the digitised plans.

The Series, officially called "Regional Land Office Plans Digitised Reference Set", have three consignments or components - (1) Parish and Township plans (2) Soldier Settlement and Closer Settlement Plans and (3) County and Parish Index. All these Plans are working plans, so some have annotations, tears and what appears to be coffee stains.

The Plan, above, is the Pakenham Parish Plan, part of the County of Mornington. The Pakenham township, shown on the Plan, is the original town on the Highway, near Toomuc Creek. This town grew up around the Latrobe Inn, established around 1850 by Michael and Kitty Bourke. Michael Bourke also acted as Post Master for nearly 30 years. Kitty Bourke kept the Hotel and Post Office from the time of her husband’s death in 1877 until 1910. The Latrobe Inn was a Cobb & Co. coach stop and for obvious reasons was later known as Bourke’s Hotel. The town, which developed around the Pakenham Railway Station, was officially known as Pakenham East until the 1960s. The Railway line from Oakleigh to Bunyip was completed in October 1877.

The township map, above, is of Emerald. Emerald is said to derive its name from nearby Emerald Creek, which had been named after an early prospector Jack Emerald. Jack had been found murdered in his hut; it is thought the culprits believed he had a quantity of gold hidden there. Gold was discovered in the area in November 1858 but the rush lasted only a few years, however some settlers remained in the area and small eucalyptus distilleries were established. A school was opened in 1878 at what is now called Avonsleigh or East Emerald. However the seminal event in Emerald’s history was the establishment of the Gembrook Nurseries by Carl Axel Nobelius in 1886.The name Gembrook Nurseries was taken from the Parish of Gembrook, where Emerald township is located.

Cockatoo is also in the Parish of Gembrook, and in common with Emerald has a Railway Station on the Puffing Billy line. This town was originally named Cockatoo Creek in 1859 by gold diggers, because of the abundance of cockatoos. The town was settled in the 1870s. The Railway Station was originally called Devon when the Puffing Billy line opened in 1900 but reverted to Cockatoo Creek in 1901and then shortened to Cockatoo in 1904, though the Post Office retained the named of Cockatoo Creek until the First World War. The School opened in 1907 in a corn store and moved into a new building in 1918. This building was re-located to its current site in 1951. A Public Hall and library opened in Cockatoo in 1914. Sadly, Cockatoo suffered badly in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires when seven people died, 289 houses were burnt, 8 other buildings, including the Hall, were destroyed.

The second component of this Series are the Soldier Settlement and Closer Settlement Plans. The Chirnside Estate was a gift from Andrew Chirnside of Melville Park (later Edrington). The gift of land was reported in The Argus, a digitised version of which is available on the National Library of Australia's Trove

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), Thursday 4 April 1918, page 9.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1650358

Tweet

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.

Tweet

Beaconsfield Park Memorial Gates by Ann Taylor

Cardinia Shire Council is currently undertaking works at Beaconsfield Park. The park is situated at the corner of Beaconsfield-Emerald Road and Old Princes Highway. This area is just over the Cardinia Creek Bridge. Cardinia Shire Council initially provided $10,000 to have plans developed for this area and then were successful in gaining a Federal Government grant of $112,572 to have these works carried out. The works include new drainage and footpath and extensive landscaping and planting of native and indigenous plants. Stage one of these works will cover the front entrance of the park and then future works will include a boardwalk and post and rail fencing.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), Thursday 26 January 1939, page 6.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12090454

An historically important part of the Park is the Beaconsfield Park sign and in 2008 the Beaconsfield Progress Association was successful in gaining a Cardinia Shire Council Heritage grant to have this sign restored. In 2009, more funding was obtained to have pillars built for the signage. The refurbishment work on the Beaconsfield sign has now been completed. The sign has a special place in the history of Beaconsfield, as it was erected, together with Gates, which have since disappeared, in 1939 in memory of the soldiers who took part in the Great War. The Gates and sign were the gift of the Craven sisters Belinda, Mattie and Alice who previously had the Beaconsfield Post Office. Shown above is a report on the Gates from The Argus of January 26, 1939.


The late Tony Rushton, who lived in Beaconsfield and had a passion for local history, had this photo, shown above, in his collection. It is thought to be taken at the opening of the gates. In the group second from the left is Harold Harbour, third from left ‘Slim’ Parkes and on the right ‘Bluey’ Jim Parkes. Tony Rushton had expressed a desire to see the sign and pillars restored, and now this has finally taken place.

The neglected sign before refurbishment, above, and after refurbishment, below. Photographs by Ann Taylor.

The information in this article was first published in the December2010/January 2011 edition of the Beaconsfield Banner, the Community Newsletter produced by the Beaconsfield Progress Association. Ann is a regular contributor to the Beaconsfield Banner.

Tweet

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.  

Tweet

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.

Tweet

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!

Tweet

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.

Tweet