Double Lagoon was a locality and landmark in what is now Highett, but was then referred to as South Brighton (which was later called Moorabbin). It was named after the shape of a waterhole in the area, which is clearly seen on the map below, straddling sections 37 and 38 on the Moorabbin Parish Plan from 1864. A Parish Plan shows the owners of the land after the Crown, so those who purchased the land at the first Government land sales. Subsequent owners and subdivisions are not shown on a Parish Plan, unless the land was the subject of a government subdivision such as a Closer Settlement Board scheme or Soldier Settlement scheme or similar.
Detail of the Moorabbin Parish Plan from 1864, showing the Double Lagoon,
in sections 37 and 38.
Parish of Moorabbin, County of Bourke / lithographed at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne, May 14th, 1864.
State Library of Victoria https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/123867
A later version (see below) of the Moorabbin Parish Plan, has street names which places the Double Lagoon around Wickham Road, between Bluff Road and the Nepean Highway.
Detail of the Moorabbin Parish Plan from 1926 showing sections 37 and 38
and some street names.
Moorabbin, County of Bourke / photo-lithographed at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne by W. J. Butson, 1926.
State Library of Victoria https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/112254
The part of the Lagoon, located in section 37, was shown in an 1853 subdivision map, with the annotation Fresh water lagoon.
Part of the lagoon is shown on this 1853 map.
Plan of subdivision of portion no. 37 in the Parish of Moorrabbin called Worthing near Brighton by Charles Laing, Surveyor, 1853.
State Library of Victoria https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/161550
The first mention I can find of the Double Lagoon in a newspaper was in 1854, when it was mentioned in the sale of building allotments in the Owensville Estate, on Arthur's Seat Road, Brighton.
Sale of land in April 1854, in the Owensville Estate in section 38, near the Double Lagoon
The Argus, April 6 1854 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4805438
The 1854 advertisement reads, in part,
Brighton. Building Allotments. Johnston and Co. will sell by public auction, at their rooms, Collins-street, on Thursday, 6th inst, at twelve o'clock, The unsold portions of forty seven really fine building allotments, portion of section 38, parish of Moorabbin, known as the Owensville Estate, as named after the celebrated Dr Owens, the Diggers' Delegate, from which gentleman the present vendor derives his title. This property is on the great three chain Arthur's Seat Road, a short distance from the well-known Key's Hotel, adjoining the Brighton Survey. The land is finely timbered, High and Dry, and has the great advantage of an abundant supply of good fresh water from the Double Lagoon, which forms the south-west boundary of the Owensville Estate. (1)
Arthur's Seat Road is the Nepean Highway. Dr Owen, as mentioned above, was Dr John Downes Owens (1809-1866). He advocated for miner's rights on the gold fields (thus referred to as the Diggers' Delegate) and his obituary noted that - To Dr. Owens's earnest and able advocacy the miners owe their release from the petty tyranny that the ruling bureaucracy imposed on them in the early days of the gold-fields. He later purchased land at Brighton, in section 38, the subdivision of which was known as the Owensville Estate. (2) As a matter of interest, Ripponlea, in the 1850s was also known as Owensville. (3) The Key's Hotel was Robert Key's Little Brighton Hotel, the licence of which was granted in April 1847 at the Annual Licensing Session for the district of Bourke and the Argus noted in their report of this session that - A petition against the granting of this license was presented from a number of ladies, residing on the special survey at Brighton, who seemed to think that the concession of such a privilege to a bachelor applicant was a direct infringement of the vested rights of the fair sex. The magistrates, however, granted the license, no doubt expecting that the applicant would take the hint and provide himself with a helpmate before next licensing day. (4)
In June 1856, land being sold near Brighton, was advertised as being close to a large ornamental sheet of water, known as the Double Lagoon. (5)
Land near Brighton, close to Double Lagoon.
The Argus, June 30, 1856 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7132305
This 1856 advertisement has the location as Worthing, near Brighton. I presume this, like Owensville, was the name of the estate, but I can find no other information. It also notes that the land is nearly opposite the Plough and Harrow Inn. This Hotel, was opened by Jesse Morley in 1855 on the corner of South Road and what is now the Nepean Highway. (6)
In January 1859, the Double Lagoon Estate, part of section 37, was up for sale. The advertisement is transcribed below.
The Double Lagoon Estate for sale in January 1859
The Argus, January 20, 1859 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7308325
The advertisement reads -
To be sold, by private, the DOUBLE LAGOON ESTATE, being part of portion No. 37 in the parish of Moorabbin, adjoining the Western Port-road, now metalled, and distant from Melbourne 9½ miles, half a mile from the South Brighton Post-office and the Plough and Harrow Inn, 1½ mile from the Brighton Railway Terminus, 1 mile from Pic-Nic Point, possessing a commanding view of the Bay, with a never-falling supply of spring water.
From its close proximity to the Railway Station, and the fact of two omnibuses passing dally to and
from Melbourne, this properly is well adapted for Villa residences, nursery and commercial gardens, &c and will be divided in lots, as follows:-
Lot No. 1, containing 14 acres, upon which stands a four roomed brick house, partially finished, the greater part of the land being in a very high state of cultivation: and under crop.
Lot No. 2, 24 acres under cultivation, on which is erected a seven-roomed verandah cottage, with stabling, stock-yards, out offices, garden containing a large number of fruit-trees, including vines, &c., all of which are in full bearing.
Lot No. 3, 10 acres, half under cultivation.
Lot No. 4, 80 acres, will be divided in two, if required.
Lot. No. 5, 43 acres, will be divided to suit purchaser.
John Mackenzie, Queen-street. (7)
Pic-Nic Point (often written as Picnic Point) as mentioned in the advertisement, was an early name for Sandringham.
Parts of section 37 were put up for sale again in 1859, this time on August 20. This was a mortgagees auction on behalf of the insolvent John Wilkinson. The land consisted of 138 acres, divided into small farms of between 4 to 12 acres, and containing some of the richest soil in the Colony. (8)
Mortgagee Auction on August 20, 1859 for land in section 37
The Argus, August 17, 1859
see the full advertisement here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5686455
The advertisement doesn't mention the Double Lagoon, however the subdivision map, which was created for the sale (see below) shows part of the lagoon marked with permanent good fresh water.
Plan showing the blocks, in section 37, which form part of the mortgagee's auction
on August 20, 1859
Plan shewing subdn, of part of portion 37, Parish of Moorabbin, 1859.
State Library of Victoria https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/204678
Mr Wilkinson of Double Lagoon
The Argus, May 29, 1857 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7132643
In August 1865, we find another reference to both Double Lagoon and Owensville. A sale at the Plough and Harrow Hotel included - 12 allotments of land, being a portion of the celebrated Owensville Estate, fronting the Point Nepean Road, near the South Brighton Post-Office and 6½ acres of very superior garden land, near the double lagoon, South Brighton. (9)
Sale of land at Owensville and near the Double lagoon
The Argus, August 14, 1865 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5785321
There was one later reference to Double Lagoon which I could find and it was published in 1917. The Brighton Southern Cross published an article on long term Brighton resident, George Lawrence. George was born in England in 1844, the family arrived in Melbourne in 1849 and moved to Brighton in 1850. He remembers that the day prior to terrible Black Thursday [1851] he was sent with others of the family to the Double Lagoon, between Sandringham and Cheltenham, to get two loads of rushes with which to thatch the roof. The next day the whole country was ablaze. He also mentioned that on the lagoons were to be found wild fowl of various kinds. (10)
What happened to Double Lagoon? I wonder if the area now Basterfield Park, which has an ornamental Lake and basically adjoins Spring Road. Was Spring Road named for the obvious reason that there was a spring, which was the source of the lagoons good fresh water? Basterfield Park, was established late 1960s or early 1970s and named for Cr Gerald Basterfield, Councillor of the City of Moorabbin, from 1954-1979, and Mayor in 1959-1960 and 1971-1972 (11)
Basterfield Park, with a lake. Was this lake originally Double Lagoon?
Image: https://www.google.com/maps
Basterfield Park, 1973, to the left of Spring Road.
Image: detail of map 77, Melway Street Directory for Greater Melbourne, edition 6, 1973
(Melway Publishing Pty Ltd, 1973)
Footnotes
(1) The Argus, April 6 1854, see here
(2) Dr Owens - Obituary The Age, November 27, 1866, see here; Australian Dictionary of Biography entry https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/owens-john-downes-4352
(3) Owensville - Ripponlea - St Kilda Historian J.B. Cooper writes - The land absorbed, in the district of Rippon Lea, was, at one time, known by the long since forgotten name of the Village of Owensville. The late William Augustus Pay, of Rippon Lea, who came from London, and settled there, in the year 1857, and dwelt in Gleneira Road for 72 years, first knew the lands, and houses, in the vicinity of his home, as the Village of "Owens- vine." That name was probably a legacy from a land sale division of an estate. Auctioneers of the years of the fifties, had a strong partiality towards calling any large divisional land sale by the name of some projected village. [Cooper, J.B. The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 1 (City of St Kilda, 1931), p. 99.]
(4) Key's Hotel - Melbourne Argus, April 23, 1847, see here.
(5) The Argus, June 30, 1856, see here.
(6) The Argus, March 7, 1855, see here;
Cribben, John Moorabbin: a Pictorial History 1862-1994 (City of Kingston, 1995), p.29.
(7) The Argus, January 20, 1859, see here.
(8) The Argus, August 17, 1859, see here.
(10) Brighton Southern Cross, August 11, 1917, see here.(11) In the 1966 Melway (on-line here) the land where Basterfield Park was later located was just vacant land. The 1973 Melway is the earliest one I own.
Dates of Cr Basterfield's service from Cribben (see footnote 6)
