The Reverend Alexander Duff (1824-1890) played a large role in the early development of the Cranbourne area and this is a short biography
Reverend Alexander Duff
Image: The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson (Cheshire, 1968)
Sources - The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson (Cheshire, 1968) and Early Settlers of the Casey Cardinia District researched and published by the Narre Warren & District Family History Group in 2009.
The Reverend Alexander Duff was born in Coagh in Northern Ireland in 1824 and obtained a Master of Arts from the University of Glasgow. He married Annie Tucker in Belfast when he was 29, around 1853, and they came to Australia soon after. Their eight children were all born in Victoria.
The Reverend Alexander Duff was appointed by the Presbyterian Church to Dandenong on June 26, 1855 and on September 20 he was ordained. The Duffs initially lived with Alexander Cameron, of Mayfield, Cranbourne and conducted services in his house until Scots Presbyterian Church was opened on May 27 1860. A manse was also built at the same time. Reverend Duff also preached at Berwick in the early days and as far south as the Bass River area. He visited parishioners on his horse, Dobbin.
Cranbourne Presbyterian Church, opened 1860.
A Presbyterian School opened in Cranbourne on June 1, 1856. This school was located on the site where the Presbyterian Church stands, the first teacher being James Henry, the next teacher was Archibald Thomson. In 1862, the Commons School Act was passed and the School became Cranbourne Common School, No. 144. The School was closed in 1878 and the students moved to a new School on the South Gippsland Highway (where the Elderly Citizens are now located). In 1969, the Cranbourne State School, No. 2068, moved to Russell Street location.
On October 31, 1855 Alexander was appointed the Registrar of Births and Deaths for Cranbourne and Dandenong.
Reverend Duff's appointment
Victorian Government Gazette, No 110, 2 November 1855, page 2806
The Reverend Duff also held evening classes for young men and women on 'arithmetic, physics, mathematics, English, Latin, Greek, French and German. He was obviously interested in intellectual pursuits but he also valued physical activity - Dr Gunson wrote that he tried his hand at black smith work and that he experimented with ways to improve cheese making. He ploughed his own paddocks and, in 1858, the Mornington Farmers Society held their ploughing competitions on his farm.
Reverend Duff retired to his farm at Cardinia in 1888 and he died on December 22, 1890 aged 65. He left his entire estate to 'my dear wife, Annie Duff'. He was buried at the Cranbourne Cemetery. The value of his Estate was personal property of £1312 and real estate valued at £1574. (1)
Short obituary of the Reverend Duff
As we mentioned before, Alexander married Annie Tucker in Belfast around 1853. He was the son of Thomas Duff and Ann McMorran. They had eight children -
Walter (1855 - 1925, married Eva Sharp)
Annie Elizabeth (1857 - 1934, married John Gason)
William Tucker (1859 - 1935, married Alice Hobart)
Dora Robina (1861 - 1939, married Robert Gibb)
Maggie (1864 - 1938, married James Lecky)
Mary Clarissa (known as Minnie, 1865 - 1924, married Ingebert Gunnelson)
Alexander (1869 - 1941, married Mary Irwin)
Edward John Tucker, born and died 1877.
Annie died November 24, 1905 aged 74. The three surviving sons farmed in the Cardinia area. Walter Duff, James Lecky and Robert Gibb were all Cranbourne Shire Councillors.
Five of the Reverend Duff's grandsons were killed in the First World War - Charles Alexander Duff, the son of William and Alice Duff; James Alexander Lecky and William Mervyn Lecky, the sons of Maggie and James Lecky and Ingebert and Perch Gunnelson, the sons of Mary and Ingebert Gunnelson who lived in Garfield. (2)
Alexander's brother, Robert (1827 - 1861) was also in Australia. He and his wife Margaret (c.1832 - 1902) established the Cranbourne Hotel, around 1860. It was in High Street, where Greg Clydesdale Square is now and was demolished around the 1970s. Margaret was also a Duff, perhaps a cousin, and her father operated an Inn in Coagh, County Tyrone, the birthplace of Alexander and Robert. After Robert died, Margaret married Edward Tucker (c. 1836 - 1872), who was born in America and operated a store in Cranbourne. Edward's brother William (born in Belfast) was also in the area. What connection were they to Annie Tucker, the wife of the Reverend Duff? Some sources say that she was the sister of Edward and William Tucker, however in the Early Settlers of the Casey Cardinia District their parents are listed as Edward Tucker and Elizabeth Moore and Annie's death certificate has her mother's maiden name as Phillips, so I am not sure.
The Cranbourne Hotel, established by Robert and Margaret Duff
Image: The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson (Cheshire, 1968)
Footnotes
(1) Read his will at the Public Records Office of Victoria,
here.
(2) Charles Alexander Duff - is listed on the Cardinia Honour Board and had a Memorial tree planted at the Cardinia School; he also listed on the Tooradin State School Honour Board.
The Lecky brothers are on the Cranbourne Presbyterian Honour Board and the Cardinia Honour Board and had a Memorial tree planted at the Cardinia School.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
