Woods Street, Beaconsfield by Ann Taylor and Charles Wilson

A street sign along the Old Princes Highway has been changed! An ‘S’ has been added to the Wood Street to make it Woods Street. The controversy over this street name has now been resolved. The Beaconsfield Business group contacted the Council querying the sign “Wood Street” on the Highway and Woods Street on the street pole. The Council has confirmed it is “Woods Street” and requested that Vic Roads change their two green directional signs to conform.

An early picture of Woods Street, from the Beaconsfield Progress Association collection.

The first record of Woods Street appears in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of October 5, 1889 when the Berwick Shire Council approved the alignment of this new street. It was named after John Woods (1822-1892) a member of the Victorian Parliament from 1871 to 1893, and Commissioner for the Railways 1877-1880. When the railway line from Sale to Oakleigh was opened in April 1879, there were stations at Berwick and Officer but none at present day Beaconsfield. In 1876, entrepreneur William Brisbane of Berwick, knowing the rail line was being built, and realising there was a great demand for sawn timber and firewood in rapidly expanding Melbourne, entered into partnership with John Day, and built a sawmill near the present day Central Hotel, then called the Gippsland Hotel. Brisbane needed a rail siding to get his timber to Melbourne, and knew a siding would also benefit the new selectors in hills district- now Upper Beaconsfield, and Little Berwick, the small settlement near Cardinia Creek, later named Beaconsfield.

Brisbane wrote to the Commissioner for Railways several times, requesting a siding at this site, but without success. In a flamboyant gesture, Brisbane invited 120 ladies and gentlemen from Melbourne to lunch at his guesthouse in Upper Beaconsfield on Saturday November 30, 1878.
The guests included three M.L.A’s - Dr. L.L.Smith, Bosisto, and John Woods, all of whom had selected 20 acre blocks in the Upper Beaconsfield area, so would have benefited from the proposed station. The visitors were picked up in horse drawn vehicles at the Berwick Station and on the way to Upper Beaconsfield were shown the place where a station was required.
At lunch, a toast to John Woods the Commissioner for the Railways was proposed. In reply Woods said he accepted Brisbane’s suggestion, and agreed to open a station. He then proposed a toast to Brisbane.

Beaconsfield Railway Station, 1910.

On the December 1, 1879 Beaconsfield Railway Station opened for traffic - passengers, and goods. The Station sign stated “Beaconsfield Station”, “Passengers for Beaconsfield Ranges alight here.” The Station was an immediate boost to the local economy. The first post office was opened at the station in 1883. When State School No. 3033 opened on its present site on June 5, 1890, it was officially called Beaconsfield Railway Station School. In 1951, the name was shortened to Beaconsfield School.

Woods Street was so named to acknowledge John Woods contribution to the early development of Beaconsfield. Beaconsfield soon grew as well with both homes and shops in the Woods Street area. There are still some early 20th Century cottages along Woods street which have been lovingly restored by their owners. In the early 1900’s Adamson’s hardware store was established and served the town from 1906-1983. Woods Street also had the Post Office and Jim Parke's butcher shop along with the Grosby factory (which operated from 1945 to 1951) and is still a mix of residential and businesses today. The War Memorial was built in 1920 and still stands at the end of the Street.

John Woods was born in Liverpool England on November 5, 1822. He was the son of a railway man and John trained as a locomotive engineer in Liverpool and then on the Leipzig and Dresden railway. He won first prize for axles at the 1851 Great Exhibition. He was married to Sarah Gibbons and they arrived in Victoria in 1852 and went to the Goldfields where he led passive resistance to the licence fee. At Ararat he was elected to the local court and then to the Mining Board and from 1859-1864 he was a member of the Legislative Assembly, from 1871-1892 representing the seat of Crowlands and then the new electorate of Stawell. He sat on many Select committees, mainly about railways. He was a commissioner for the 1880 Melbourne International exhibition and honorary commissioner to the 1883-84 Calcutta Exhibition; from 1890 he was a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways. He died on April 2, 1892.

The Berwick Shire Rates Books show that John Woods purchased land, 20 acres Lot 130 Parish of Pakenham in 1878 and held it till his death in 1892. Lot 130 is off Hughenden Road just down from the intersection of Telegraph Road in Upper Beaconsfield. Woods was one of the first batch of selectors of 20 acre lots after the land was subdivided by the government in 1876-77.

This article was first published in The Beaconsfield Banner, June/July 2010 edition, the community newsletter produced by the Beaconsfield Progress Association. Ann is a regular contributor to the Beaconsfield Banner and the late Dr Charles Wilson, was a local historian, generous with his knowledge and research. Sadly, he passed away on June 5, 2010 at the age of 90.

References:
Biographical details from Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 6 Melbourne University Press, 1976 pp. 434-435.
South Bourke and Mornington Journal 1889
Beaconsfield the school and it' s district: 1890-1990 by Audrey Dodson.
In the wake of the pack tracks by the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.

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Victorian Community History Awards 2010

This blog has won a Commendation in the Victorian Community History Awards. The Awards, are organised by Information Victoria (1)  and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and 'recognise excellence in historical method'. The six Award categories acknowledge that history can be told in many formats, thus prizes are awarded for the Best Collaborative or Community Work; Best Print Publication; Best Audio Visual or Multi Media; Best Exhibit or Display; Best Walk or Tour and Best Community Research or Registers. 

The Award Ceremony took place at the State Library of Victoria on Thursday, August 19 2010 and the awards were presented by Peter Batchelor, Minister for the Arts. It was very exciting and it was fantastic to have our Blog recognised. But, the best part was that there were 153 entries in various formats, all completed in 2009 and whether they won or not, that represents 153 different stories written about Victoria's history and 153 aspects of our shared history researched and recorded for the future. So in the end, the winner is our history and that's a good thing.

Footnote

(1) They are now organised by the RHSV and the Public Records Office of Victoria prov.vic.gov.au

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South East Victoria Family & Regional History Expo

Ancestry database now has Australian Birth, Marriage and Death records. The information covers much the same sort of information you can get from the Digger CD-Roms or the on-line Indexes available through the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. It also covers the same range of years. For privacy reasons, most of the Birth Indexes generally only cover births which took place 100 years ago, Marriages which took place 60 to 80 years ago and Deaths which took place at least 30 years ago, although it varies from State to State. This is a welcome addition to Ancestry and significantly adds to its Australian content. Ancestry database is available to use, free, at all our Library Branches.

If you are new to family history then you might want to know what is significant about these Records. They are essentially the Indexes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages and include the Registration number, which you need to apply for the Certificate, from the various State Registry Offices of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Why would you purchase a certificate? Firstly, you usually get a lot more information. For instance, this is the Ancestry database record (above) of my great grandfather, James Rouse, who died in 1939 at Bunyip. James, a widower, arrived at Cora Lynn in 1903 with his nine year old son, Joe. They took up land on Murray Road. If we had his death certificate then it would potentially tell us who his parents were, where he was born, when he was married, how long he had been in Australia, what his cause of death was and what children he had. This is a treasure trove of information for genealogists. I say it will 'potentially' tell us, because obviously information on a Death certificate comes from family members or friends who may not be aware of all the circumstances of the deceased's life.


I have the birth certificate of James' son, Joe (my grandfather) and it includes the signature of James Rouse, and that is another reason why you might purchase a certificate. We don't have many photographs of James and, sadly, many of the people who knew him are no longer with us, so its lovely to see a sample of his handwriting. You will also get to see your ancestor's signatures on their Marriage Certificate.

This is a photograph of James (1862-1939) with his daughter, Lucy (1898 - 1981) and grand daughters Nancy and Dorothy, taken in 1929. Nancy and Dorothy are the children of Joe, and nieces of Lucy.

If you want to trace your own family tree and want some great advice and see some great resources, then the Narre Warren and District Family History Group are holding a Family and Regional History Expo on Saturday, August 28 at the Beaconsfield Community Centre, Old Princes Highway at Beaconsfield. There will be over 40 different exhibitors, including Casey Cardinia Library Corporation, 100s of records to research and lots of advice and information will be available.

Open 10.00am to 4.00pm, entry is $8.00, children under 15 free. There is also the chance to win a door prize of a 12 month World Deluxe Subscription from Ancestry.com.au. Even though we would still like you to come to one of our Libraries to use Ancestry, this is a great prize and means you can access all the Ancestry records, twenty four hours a day, from your home computer.

I look forward to seeing you there.

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The Salvation Army and the Lasseter connection

Army Road and Army Settlement Road in Pakenham are named after the Salvation Army Home which was located in the area. According to an article in the March 1914 Victory, the Salvation Army journal, the Salvation Army settlement at Pakenham began as a Labour Colony, during the 1890s depression. They had 300 acres (121 hectares) and 60 to 100 men were there at one time working on the farm, clearing the land, cutting wood for sale and making fruit boxes. When economic conditions improved, the need for this facility decreased and it was turned into a Boys Home or a Reformatory for boys who were taken over by us from the State, as the Victory wrote. The Boys Home operated from 1895 to 1897 when the Salvation Army opened its Bayswater Home.

The Salvation Army Home, taken in 1915. The photograph is from In the Wake of the Pack Tracks.

The next stage was a Reform Home for Girls and the Victory goes on to say that the seclusion of the locality was a desirable feature. The girls were moved to Riddell Creek when the Salvation Army opened their home there in 1900. The last stage of the life of the Home was as an Aged Men’s Retreat for men whose laboring days are over... The men had a pleasant retreat for the days of the lengthening shadows... There was no expectation of work... Quietness, wholesome air, spacious accommodation, enough company for each man to find some congenial chum could be found at Pakenham said the Victory. According to the Shire of Berwick Rate Books, the Salvation Army sub-divided their land and sold it off in 1918 and 1919. A report in the Pakenham Gazette of October 23, 1959 said that the building was pulled down and moved to Blackburn.

Audrey Dodson of the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society had heard that Harold Lasseter (1880-1931), the adventurer, had spent time at the Salvation Army Home when it was a Reformatory. Many people, including myself, have a fascination with Lasseter and his story of a discovering a gold reef in Central Australia, so I thought this would be a tale worth following up. In 1930, the Central Australian Gold Exploration Company was formed and financed an expedition to rediscover Lasseter’s Reef. When the main party turned back after no sign of the Reef was found, Lasseter and a companion continued on, they then quarreled. Lasseter then, apparently, lived for about 16 weeks with Aboriginals and died of starvation around the end of January of 1931.

Many books have been written about Lasseter, the earliest and the most famous was published in 1931, Lasseter’s Last Ride by Ion Idriess. Lasseter kept a diary around the time of the Expedition and this was found after his death and purchased by Idriess who included a transcript of it in his book, and also a few photographs of some of the pages (see right). The diary is now at the State Library of New South Wales, www.sl.nsw.gov.au who have digitised it. Other books on Lasseter include the 1934 publication by Errol Coote, the pilot of the aeroplane on the Expedition, who wrote Hell’s Airport : the key to Lasseter’s Gold Reef. In 1972 another Expedition member, the Leader, Fred Blakeley wrote Lasseter’s dream of millions.

Lasseter was apparently a man who often re-invented, glossed over or ‘modified’ his past. Murray Hubbard the author of The search for Harold Lasseter has undertaken some detailed research into Lasseter’s early life and can confirm that, in 1896, Lasseter, aged around 17 committed some burglaries in Colac and was sentenced to a Reformatory. Hubbard further discovered that this was the Salvation Army Home at Pakenham. Lasseter arrived at the Salvation Home in October 1896 and absconded in October 1897. I have written before about how one of the most fascinating things about history is the unexpected connection between people, places and events and I was excited that we can confirm a connection between Casey Cardinia and the adventurer, Harold Lasseter, and that this is just one more interesting aspect of our history.

Sources : The Search for Harold Lasseter: the true story of the man behind the myths by Murray Hubbard. Published by Angus & Robertson, 1993. The article from The March 1914 Victory, is held at the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society.

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Tooradin

Some of the earliest Europeans who passed through Tooradin were Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson. They took up the Yallock Run, at the northern end of Western Port, in November 1839. They over landed their cattle and goods to Tooradin from Melbourne and they were then blocked by the undrained Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp, so used Sawtell’s Inlet at Tooradin as their port and continued on by boat.  For the same reason, other land owners from further around Western Port Bay at Red Bluff, Grantville, Queensferry and Corinella also used Tooradin until the Western Port Road was built around 1860. There is a plaque in a picnic shelter on the South Gippsland Highway between Koo-Wee-Rup and Monomeith that marks the location of the Yallock site.

The Tooradin area was part of the Toorodan Run of 16,000 acres (6,475 hectares) taken up by Frederick and Charles Manton in 1840. Edwin Sawtell, a Melbourne merchant, had an interest in this run, before the Manton Brothers took it over. He is the source of the name of Sawtell’s Inlet. Sawtell died at the age of 95 in 1892. The town took its name from Manton’s Toorodan run  and is an Aboriginal word for  “swamp monster” or “bunyip”. 1851 saw the arrival of Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall in the area. John Mickle (1814-1885) and John Bakewell (1807-1888) were business partners in Melbourne from 1847 and they were soon joined by William Lyall (1821-1888) whose sister Margaret was married to John Mickle. They had numerous runs in the Western district and in 1851, they acquired the leases of the Yallock and Tobin Yallock and Red Bluff Stations; in 1852 Manton’s Toorodan run and in 1854 they acquired the Great Swamp run,  all in all about 27,000 acres, which they collectively called their Western Port runs.

After the partnership split up the land was divided between the three partners with  Lyall receiving part of Yallock Station. Lyall and his wife, Annabella, built Harewood house, just out of Tooradin, on this property.  The construction of Harewood started around 1857 and the property remained in the Lyall family until 1968. Harewood is of State significance and is on the Victorian Heritage Database. Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall and their descendants are remembered in Tooradin, Cranbourne and Koo-Wee-Rup where streets were named in their honour.

A map of an early land subdivision at Tooradin. Evans owned all of Allotment 5 and subdivided these fifteen blocks in 1887 or 1888. You can see Steer's property where the Bridge Hotel was located. The '1 chain road' is now Mickle Street

The Tooradin township was laid out in 1854, and this included a reserve for a bridge and wharf. Early land sales took place in 1869, but it wasn’t until the 1870s that the township took off. In January 1870, John Steer applied for a Beer Licence for his Bridge Inn. John Steer died in May 1876 and the Hotel was taken over by Matthew Evans in 1877. Later publicans included Larry Basan who took over the licence in 1888 and rebuilt the hotel in 1895. The hotel was demolished in 2016.  The other Tooradin Hotel, the Sherwood Hotel, which was closer towards Cranbourne, had opened in 1869.

A tender to construct the Tooradin State School was accepted in October 1874 and the School officially opened on April 12, 1875 with Mrs Adelaide Dredge as the teacher. John Woodfield Thrupp opened a store around 1875. The Post Office and a store  operated by Mr F.M  Woolley opened in August 1877. He only lasted a year and the Store was taken over by Mr G. Walker, and in 1898 by Frederick Atyeo. Two years later, his son George, took over and added a coffee palace.  To meet the spiritual needs of the residents, Anglican Church services were held from 1875, most likely in the School, and from 1883 in the Hall until the Christ Church was built in 1900. The Catholic Church, St Peters, was built in 1922, services also having been previously held in the Mechanics’ Institute. The Church is now part of St Peters College at Cranbourne.

Tooradin Mechanics' Institute

Photo from : Tooradin : a history of a Sportsman's Paradise, 1875-1975. Complied by D.J. Mickle.

The Tooradin Mechanics’ Institute (pictured above) had officially opened on Boxing Day, 1882. The current Hall was built in 1938, having replaced the original hall, which burnt down the previous year. Another boost to Tooradin was the construction of the Great Southern Railway, which reached Tooradin in October 1888. It was extended from Tooradin to Loch in November 1890. The Station was a few kilometres north of the town and the source of the road name Tooradin Station Road.

As the town developed community groups were established – in the 1920s a Country Women's Association; the Fire Brigade started in 1945;  the Infant Welfare Centre opened in 1949 and ten years later the Kindergarten; the Scout Group was established in 1964. The Tooradin Dalmore Football Club started in  in 1919 and the  Netball Club in 1954.  The Avenue of Honour to commemorate the World War One soldiers was planted in 1922, unusually it consists of flowering gums.

Matthew Evans (1836-1909) was an early resident of Tooradin. He had purchased land in 1869 and built Bay View house in the early 1870s. He also purchased other blocks in Tooradin, some of which he sub-divded and sold around 1887 or 1888 (see map above). Evans, as we saw before, was the owner of  the Bridge Inn for  a time was a Cranbourne Shire Councillor from 1879 to 1881, a trustee of the Mechanics Institute and donated the land for the Anglican Church. Evans built Isles View, which is on the City of Casey Heritage Scheme, in 1898 and it is thought that Bay View house was shifted to form part of this new house. The Isle to which the name refers to is French Island. Mr Evans is the source of the name of Evans Road. Matthew married Harriet Swalling in 1860 and she sadly died at the age of 21 in 1862. He then married Fanny Sweetnam in 1865 and they had ten children Arthur Ernest (b. 1865), Herbert Hill (1868), Lance Hill (1870), Frank Austin (1871), Walter Matthew (1875), Florence Fanny (1877), Nellie Banks (1879), Lena Bessie (1880), Rose Alice (1884) Leslie Rubin (1887). Fanny died in 1931, aged 87.

Isles View house, this photograph clearly shows the weatherboard section which is believed to be Matthew Evan's original 1869 house, Bay View.

A fleet of fishing boats were also based at the Tooradin and some of the earliest settlers were fishermen.David Mickle* writes that George Casey was the first fisherman and settler, followed by Jimmy Miles and  then in 1876 Henry Forman Kernot and his wife, Elizabeth (nee McNaughton)  came over from Hastings. The couple had married in 1861 and their children were Charles Edward (b. 1861, married Annie Collins), Henry William (1863, married Sarah Winchester), Clara Johanna (1865, married Gilbert Kerr), Amelia Eliza (1867, married Henry Alexander Mundy),  Caroline Jessie (1869, married Peter Peterson), Charlotte (1871, married William Mentiplay), Georgina Alice (1873, married Alexander Greive), Isabella Lucretia (1874, married Frederick Poole), Thomas James (1876, married Elsie May Lee), Maria Martha (1877, married Frederick Rawlings), Mary Adeline (1880, married Thomas Henderson) and George Robert (1881, married Mabel Robertson).  Caroline's husband, Peter Peterson, and Isabella's husband, George Poole, were half brothers - you can read about the family here.

 Isabella Kernot Poole owned the Fishermans Cottage  from 1910 to 1949. It is now the home of the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society.  The Cottage is one of the few remaining examples of the fishermen’s houses that originally dotted both sides of Sawtell’s Inlet in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The last of the professional fishermen, Henry Kernot and Arthur Johnstone (son of Ted Johnstone and Hilda Kernot (the daughter of Henry and Sarah (nee Winchester) Kernot listed above), surrendered their licence in 1999. 

Fisherman's Cottage. This house is thought to have been built by Matthews Evans and some sources date it's construction to c. 1873 even though the land was part of the 1887 subdivision shown in the map above.

Tooradin attracted not only the professional fisherman but the sports fisherman as well. The fishing, plus quail shooting on Quail Island, deer shooting, cycling club and other typical pursuits of the time gave Tooradin a reputation as a 'Sportsman’s Paradise'. This reputation was fostered by the publication of the booklet Around Tooradin : the Sportsman's Paradise by Hawkeye. It was published, in serial form, in late 1888 and early 1889 to promote the sale of land in the area. Today Tooradin is still a haven for recreational fishing, is the service centre for the coastal towns of Cannons Creek, Warneet and Blind Bight. It’s natural landscape of tidal flats and mangroves are a haven for bird and marine life. When I was growing up at Cora Lynn (in the 1960s and 70s)  we always went to Tooradin to the beach - my parents used to water ski and we’ll have a swim or just go over and get fish and chips and eat them on the beach. In fact, Tooradin fish and chips seem to be fondly remembered by many people.

Tooradin was the birthplace of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria in 1903, you can read about  this here.

• The photographs of Isles View and the Fishermans Cottage are from the Heritage of the City of Casey : Historic sites in the former City of Casey, by Graeme Butler and Associates, 1995.
• Photo of Matthew Evans is from Tooradin : a history of a Sportsman's Paradise, 1875-1975. Complied by D.J. Mickle.

*Tooradin : a history of a Sportsman's Paradise, 1875-1975 . Complied by D.J. Mickle. (published in 1975 by the Tooradin 'Back to' Committee)

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Tynong

When the Railway line was opened from Oakleigh to Bunyip in October 1877 is also opened up the timber industry. Sidings were established to dispatch timber to Melbourne and townships, such as Tynong, developed around these Sidings. Timber mills connected to the rail line by tramways. A number of Mills were established in the 1880s but the area had a resurgence when Horatio Weatherhead and his sons moved there from Lyonville in late 1908.

Horatio Weatherhead's Mill in North Tynong in 1910.

Image: Rouse family collection.

Horatio had a license to mill 2,000 acres of forest and he and his sons operated various Mills from 1909 onwards.

A trestle bridge in North Tynong, 1912. Eva Weatherhead, is standing on the bridge. Eva and her mother Eleanor, arrived from Lyonville to join the rest of the family, after Eva finished Grade 8 around the end of 1913.

Image: Rouse family collection.

One of the earliest public buildings in Tynong was the Mechanics’ Institute. According to The Argus, it was used as a Polling Place in February 1886 and I believe it was built in the previous year. The current Hall was officially opened on January 14, 1927. In The Argus report of the opening, it says that the Hall was new and recently erected at the cost of £900.00. It was wrecked by a gale in August 1959, then renovated and re-opened with a new supper room, kitchen and a ‘ladies ‘room in November 1961. The original Mechanics’ Institute building has been at Old Gippstown since 1974, when it was rescued from an orchard.

This much we do know, however a report in the Pakenham Gazette in 1961 says the history of the Tynong Hall goes back to 1909, in which year the Progress Association purchased the present site from Mr Gault. A year or so later they purchased from the Education department an old Schoolroom and that served as Tynong’s Hall for many years. The book From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen (see citation below) says the first public Hall was originally the School, put on land bought by the Progress Association in 1913 from Mrs Gault and opened in 1917. There is yet another account of a Tynong Hall from the Pakenham Gazette in the 1960s which are the reminiscences of an early resident, Mrs Ryan. Mrs Ryan says Where Wilson’s home is at present in 1918 a partly built house, three rooms and frame work for more. The Centre rooms were at one time a Tynong Hall. It was in the paddock opposite the lane …Mr Jas Smith later sold to Mrs Gault…in the early 1920s Mr Jas Marsden bought it and had a nice 6-roomed home made of it [later] Mr Cecil Brand bought the property and turned it into a nice home and ….at present Wilsons occupy it.

So, were there in fact three Tynong Halls? The 1885 Mechanics’ Institute, the 1927 current Hall and a Hall that was opened in c.1910 or 1917 or was there yet another Hall that became part of Mr Wilson’s house? Tynong is said to be Aboriginal for ‘plenty of fish’ but I believe it must really mean ‘plenty of halls’.

Tynong Hall also has a Projection Room, clearly seen in the picture, above, which is currently inaccessible. I have no confirmed information about this Projection Room. Was it built in 1927 when the Hall was built – the 1920s was time when many Picture Theatres were being erected, so that might be logical? However other notes I have say that in the 1950’s the Hall Committee purchased a film projector and used the Hall as a Picture Theatre.

Apart from being a town with many Halls Tynong also had a School which was opened in 1906 and became part of the Pakenham Consolidated School in 1952.

Tynong also supplied the granite for the Shrine of Remembrance which was built between. July 1928 and November 1934 to honour the soldiers who served in the First World War.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), Friday 31 August 1928, page 12.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3953615
From the National Library of Australia Newspapers Beta Project

From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen : a brief history of the Shire of Berwick. Published by the Historical Society of Berwick Shire in 1962. This is the earlier version of In the wake of the Pack Tracks.

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Beaconsfield and the Royal Connection

One of the things that I love best about history are the connections that pop up between people and places and events. I do love a Royal connection so that's why I was happy to find out that the Dovetons (after whom Doveton was named) are both descendants of King Edward 1 (1239-1307) and his wife Eleanor of Castille (1241-1290) and now I am going to tell you about Beaconsfield and it's Royal connection.

In 1855, David and Janet Bowman who held the lease on the Panty Gurn Gurn Station, were granted a licence for the Gippsland Hotel, near the Cardinia Creek on the Gippsland Road. It was known as the Gippsland Hotel as the Cardinia Creek was the border of the Port Phillip district and the Gippsland district. David Bowman died in 1860 aged 54 and Janet Bowman continued running the Hotel and put it up for sale in May 1866.

An Advertisment for the Gippsland Hotel
The Argus, June 6, 1866  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5764495

It was still for sale a year later but by 1869 the Souter family were the licensees. In that same year, Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh (1844 - 1900)  stayed at the hotel for several days. The Prince had taken over the Inn and staffed it with members of his ship, the H.M.S Galatea. The Government had built and furnished two extra rooms to accommodate the Prince. These rooms were made of brick, with a slate roof as opposed to the rest of the Inn which was of wattle and daub. Prince Alfred, was the second son of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert and he had the distinction of undertaking the first ever Royal tour to Australia from October 1867 to June 1868. During this time, he was seriously wounded by an Irishman, Henry James O’Farrell (who was hung for the crime) at a picnic in Sydney in March 1868. However he recovered and made a private visit to Australia from January to April 1869 and it was during this time he visited Beaconsfield. In 1874, he married the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, the daughter Tsar Alexander II and in honour of this marriage, an English bakery made the Marie biscuit, with her name imprinted on it. So next time you eat a Marie biscuit or use them to make chocolate hedgehog or lemon slice, remember the Grand Duchess and her husband, Prince Alfred.

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, stayed at the Gippsland Hotel

Getting back to Mrs Bowman, who was described as enterprising, courageous and a devout Presbyterian, in 1861-62 she paid to have a 50 mile track cut from her Hotel to the Hughes Track which went to to the Jordan Goldfields (around Wood's Point). The track was said to have cost £1500. Some said that Mrs Bowman cut the track so miners would go past her door however she maintained that she did it because the Government had announced that it would compensate people who provided tracks to the Goldfields. After much fighting, in 1878, the Government awarded her £300 (or £500 depending on sources) as compensation. Janet Bowman died in 1904 aged 93 having outlived six of her eight children. Bowman's Hotel, later called Souter's Hotel is now known as the Central Hotel. The current Mediterranean style building was in 1928.

The Gippsland Hotel, 1860. 

This illustration comes from the book The Early Days of Berwick.

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