The mystery of Minihan's Road, Cranbourne

Monahan's Road is in Cranbourne; it runs from Sladen Street up to Breens Road. There is a park on Monahan's Road called Minihan's Reserve. However, Monahan's Road was originally called Minihan's Road after the Minihan family.  So, the mystery is why is it now known as Monahan's Road and what happened to Minihan's Road?

1963 aerial of Cranbourne (photograph taken December 14, 1963).

Monahan's Road is on the left hand side of the photograph, and ends at what appears to be a ploughed area, but is now, I think, part of SP Ausnet Cranbourne Terminal Station. You can see the beginnings of a new housing estate, centered either side of Camms Road, to the left of the Railway Line. This includes streets such as Evelyne Avenue, Virginia Avenue, Rosalie Avenue etc. Also off Camms Road and between the railway line and the South Gippsland Highway, you can see the development of Circle Drive, to the north of this is Clairmont Avenue and Fenfield Street . What looks like a quarry is now Donnelly Reserve.

Detail of page 128 of the 1973 Edition 6 of the Melway Street Directory. 

Monahans Road is just to the left of blue Cranbourne heading.

The Minihan family were listed in the Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books from 1863 (the first year we have access to these records), when William Minihan is shown as owning 54 acres in Section 5, Lot 9 in the Parish of Lyndhurst. The general location is shown on the Parish Plan, below.

Detail of Lyndhust Parish Plan - the star marks Section 9, the location of the Minihan property.

Lyndhurst, County of Mornington / drawn and reproduced at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne.

State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/288705

Cranbourne residents, 1930s and 1940s

This is a sketch map produced for the publication of the book Cranbourne: a town with a history, published by the City of Casey in 1996. (You can access an on-line copy of this book here). A long term Cranbourne resident, Mrs Joan Kelsall, identified the location of Cranbourne residents in the 1930s and 1940s and shows John Minihan's house on Monahan's Road.

William Minihan married Mary Coffee in 1854 in Limerick in Ireland and they very soon after migrated to Victoria. The had nine children, I can't find the registration records for them all, so some dates are a educated guess - 

Mary Ann - died aged four months old in 1855 in Collingwood.

Patrick - born c.1856 and died in 1926 in Cranbourne, aged 70.

Mary Ann - born c.1858 and died aged 5 years old in Cranbourne in 1863.

John - born c.1860 and died aged 3 years old in Cranbourne in 1863.

Catherine - born 1862, birth registered at Lyndhurst and died in 1947 at Northcote, aged 84. 

Mary Ann - born c. 1864 and died aged 32 in Cranbourne in 1896. 

John - born 1866, birth registered at Lyndhurst and died in 1936 in Dandenong, aged 69.

Ellen Francis - born 1868, birth registered at Cranbourne and died in 1898 in Cranbourne, aged 31.  Johanna - born 1870, birth registered at Cranbourne; married Patrick McGrath in 1896 and died 1964 in Murrumbeena aged 94. 

William died on January 25, 1911 and Mary died March 10, 1905 and they are both buried at Cranbourne Cemetery, along with some of their children.  William's Probate papers showed he owned various parcels of  land in the area - in the Parish of Langwarrin - Crown Allotment (CA) 7A of 100 acres, CA 7B of 20 acres and CA 7C of 16 acres, all with no improvements other than fencing. I believe this land is off  Brown's Road, east of Smith's Road in Cranbourne South. 

Detail of Langwarrin Plan, showing William Minihan's property.

Langwarrin, State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/160492

William's land in the Parish of Lyndhurst consisted of - 27 acres part of Crown portions 9 and 10, lot B, with a four roomed weather-board house, hay shed, barn and stable; 26 acres, Lot 4 of Crown Portion 9 with a wattle and daub house and 2 acres of orchards; 26 acres Lot 5 of Crown Portion 9 with a cow shed and fencing; 26 acres Lot 8, Crown Portion 7 with fencing. All up the land was valued at just over £1474 and he also had furniture and tools valued at £17.  

We know from William's Will and from the Shire of Cranbourne Rate books that William, John, Patrick and later Catherine Minihan owned land in Crown Allotments 7, 9 and 10 from at least 1863  until 1936 and we know that this is exactly the same area where Monahan's Road is today

Minihan entry, Shire of Cranbourne Rate books 1925-1926.

Minihan entry, Shire of Cranbourne Rate books 1935-1966.

There are newspaper references to show that there was once a road called Minihans's Road in Cranbourne, as we can see below.

Cranbourne Shire contract to form and gravel Minihan's Road 

South Bourke and Mornington Journal, November 7 1900 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70046498

Cranbourne Shire Engineer's report. The name has been spelt incorrectly, bit still clearly referring to the road where the Minihan family lived.

Dandenong Advertiser September 6 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88818645

Death notice of John Minihan in 1936, of Minihan's Road, Cranbourne

The Age February 17, 1936, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205239716

There is clear evidence that Monahan's Road was originally called Minihan's Road. We know that there used to be a Minihan's Road in Cranbourne; we know that the Minihan family lived on what is now called Monahan's Road and that they owned land on either side of Monahan's Road for seventy years. The mystery is, why was it changed? I do not know, but I suspect it was just slackness in regard to the spelling and the wrong spelling was eventually accepted.

And what is even more ironic, is that the road near their Cranbourne South property, Crown Allotments 7A, 7B and 7C, Parish of Langwarrin, referred to above, seems also to have been known locally  Minahan's Road or South Lyndhurst Road. There is no possibility that the reference below would refer to what is now Monahan's Road. 

A reference to Minahan's Road in South Lyndhurst (now Cranbourne South_.

Dandenong Advertiser, August 9 1917 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88818493

What are the chances that an early land owning family in the Cranbourne area could, over 100 years ago have had two roads named for them and now there are none? In sporting parlance, if I was a Minihan, I would say 'we was robbed'.

Sources - Shire of Cranbourne Rate books; Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; Minihan family trees on Ancestry.com;  Willian Minihan's Probate papers at the Public Records Office of Victoria, see here.

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to Our Past

Street names in Cranbourne

This post looks at the names of the streets in the original 1856 subdivision of the town of Cranbourne and the streets in the 1888 Cranbourne Park subdivision,

1856 Subdivision
This is a map of the original Cranbourne township allotments which includes the original owners. The streets names represent two different sources of names - some are named after local land owners and some are named after Government officials. I have made an ‘educated guess’ as to the source of the street names which I believe are derived from Government officials but as the first Cranbourne township lots were surveyed in 1856 and the first land sales took place in March 1857 and this period coincides with the time that these officials were influential then I believe that they are the most likely source for the names.

Map of the 1850 subdivisions in the Cranbourne township

Click on the link to view or download a larger version http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/94154

Bakewell Street and Lyall Street
John Bakewell and William Lyall were part of the influential partnership of Mickle, Bakewell and Lyall who arrived in the area in 1851. 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 to 1888) whose sister Margaret was the wife of John Mickle. In 1851 they acquired the Yallock Run (based on the Yallock Creek, south of Koo-Wee-Rup). In 1852 they acquired the Tooradin run and in 1854 they acquired the Great Swamp run and at one stage they occupied nearly all the land from Cranbourne to Lang Lang.

After Government land sales in 1856 the trio subdivided their jointly owned land. Bakewell’s portion included Tooradin, Tobin Yallock, the Bluff and Warrook on the Yallock Creek. Mickle received the Upper Yallock blocks which he renamed Monomeith. Lyall received the Yallock pre-emptive right and the remaining land. William and Annabella Lyall built Harewood house in the 1850s and the property remained in the Lyall family until 1967. John Bakewell died in England in 1888 (1)

Barkly Street
Sir Henry Barkly (1815 - 1898) was Governor of Victoria from 1856 to 1863. The western end of Barkly Street is now called Brunt Street and the eastern end is Lecky Street. It is separated by the Cranbourne Secondary College site. (2)

Brunt Street
Brunt is named for the Brunt family. William Brunt and his wife, Mary Jane (nee Espie), lived at Spring Villa, where the Settlement Hotel is now located. William was a Cranbourne Shire Councillor from 1904 to 1923. Brunt Road in Officer is named after William's cousin, Ralph Brunt. Ralph and his wife Mary Jane (nee Funston) had land from 1871 on the Cardinia Creek and later had part of the Gin Gin Bean run, near Officer. (3)

Cameron Street
In March 1851, Alexander Cameron (1815 - 1881) took up the lease of the Mayune Run and a few years later at the Government land sales he purchased 592 acres, the Mayfield Pre-emptive Right, on the corner of what is now Cameron Street and the South Gippsland Highway (where the Life style retirement Village is now located). The Cranbourne Road Board was proclaimed in June 1860 and Cameron was elected in 1863 and served until 1867. He was married to Margaret (nee Donaldson, 1822-1895) and they had seven children. (4)

Childers Street
Hugh Culling Eardley Childers (1827 - 1896) and his wife, Emily (nee Walker) arrived in Australia in 1850. His first Government appointment was an Inspector of Denominational Schools in 1851. He was a member of the Legislative Council and appointed Auditor General. He was the first vice chancellor of the University of Melbourne and helped found the Melbourne Public Library (both established in 1856). He returned to England a few years later where he became a member of the House of Commons and was also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society. (5)

Clarendon Street
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800 - 1870) was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1847 to 1852 and the British Foreign Secretary on three occasions from 1853 to 1870. He negotiated a favourable outcome for Britain at the end of the Crimean War in 1856 at the Congress of Paris Peace talks. The Crimean War, which was a war between Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia against Russia took place largely on the Crimean Peninsula in Russia. The war was commemorated in many towns in Australia by street names such as Alma, Inkerman and Balaclava which were places of battle etc during the war. (6)

Codrington Street
Sir William John Codrington (1804 - 1884) was Commander in Chief of the British Forces in the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856. Alternatively, but I feel less likely, Codrington Street could be named for the British Admiral, Sir Edward Codrington (1770 to 1851) who was Captain of the HMS Orion at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and also served in other Wars. (7)

Lecky Street
Lecky Street is named after local land owner, James Lecky (1802 - 1884). He purchased Gin Gin Bean on the Cardinia Creek in 1846. Lecky was a Cranbourne Road Board and Shire Council Member from 1860 to 1881 and Shire President on many occasions. He and his wife Elizabeth (nee Woods, 1803 - 1891) and their six children arrived in Victoria in 1841. (8)

Lyons Street
Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons (1790 - 1858), 1st Baronet Lyons, commanded the Black Sea fleet during the Crimean War. (9)

Russell Street
Lord John Russell (1792 - 1878) was Home Secretary under Lord Melbourne when he was the British Prime Minister on various occasions between 1834 and 1841. Russell was also the British Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and from 1865 to 1866. Lord Melbourne is the source of the name Melbourne and Russell Street in the city is also named after Lord Russell. (10)

Sladen Street
Sir Charles Sladen (1816 - 1884) was a member of the Legislative Council and Treasurer of Victoria and Premier for 67 days in 1868. (11)

Stawell Street
Sir William Foster Stawell (1815 - 1889) was appointed Victorian Attorney General in 1851 and became Chief Justice of Victoria in 1857. (12)

Cranbourne Park subdivision, 1888
On November 9, 1888 the blocks at Cranbourne Park Estate at Cranbourne were auctioned off. The land was sold on very easy terms with a two pound deposit. The auctioneers, Carney & Kelly, in conjunction with John Collins provided the prospective buyers with a 'special train leaving Princes Bridge Station at 11.15am' and also provided a 'free luncheon in a spacious marquee'

Map of the Cranbourne Park Estate

State Library of Victoria - click on the link to view or download a larger version http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/135527

Part of the advertisement for Cranbourne Park Estate in The Age November 8, 1888

See the full advertisement here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193401330

Here is a list of the Streets in the Cranbourne Park Estate and the derivation of their name

Barkley Street
Sir Henry Barkly (1815 - 1898) was Governor of Victoria from 1856 to 1863. Barkly Street had already been used in Cranbourne in the original 1856 sub-division, see above. The western end of the original Barkly Street is now called Brunt Street and the eastern end is Lecky Street. (13)

Berwick Road
It was called Berwick Road as it lead to Berwick (actually it leads to Narre Warren, but perhaps they thought that Berwick was more well known than Narre Warren) Now known as Cameron Street, after early land owner, Alexander Cameron, who took up land in Cranbourne in 1851. (14)

Bowen Street
Sir George Ferguson Bowen (1821 - 1899) was the Governor of Queensland from 1859 - 1868, Governor of New Zealand 1868 - 1873, Governor of Victoria 1873- 1878, Governor of Mauritius 1879 - 1882 and then Governor of Hong Kong 1882 - 1886 - so clearly moved around the British Empire serving Queen Victoria wherever he was sent. (15)

Camms Road
Charles Camm (1837 - 1924) is listed on the Cranbourne Parish Plan as owning Lot 69, 100 acres, this land was at the end of Patterson's Road, near Pound Road. According to the Cranbourne Shire Rate books, by 1884, as well as this 100 acres, Robert Camm (1811 - 1890) was listed for 87 acres Lot 7 and 316 acres Lot 35, which was originally owned by Alexander Cameron. There is some discrepancy with the spelling of the name - the Parish Plan lists it as Cam, the Rate books call it Camm and Niel Gunson in his book The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire spells it as Cam. (16)

Canterbury Road
John Henry Thomas Manners-Sutton (1814 - 1877) was the Governor of Victoria 1866 - 1873. In 1869, on the death of his brother, he became the third Viscount Canterbury. (17)

Hotham Street
Sir Charles Hotham (1806 - 1855) was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Victoria in December 1853 and full Governor in February 1855, a post he held until he died in December 1855. The Eureka Rebellion took place during his appointment. (18)

La Trobe Street
Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801 - 1875) was the Superintendent of the Port Phillip District from 1839 - 1851, then Lieutenant Governor of Victoria 1851 - 1854. (19)

Loch Street
Henry Brougham Loch (1827 - 1900) was the Governor of Victoria 1884 - 1889, he was then appointed High Commissioner for South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony. (20)

Melbourne Road
Obviously the road to Melbourne (if heading north), but now called High Street, part of the South Gippsland Highway and also called, in the past, Western Port Road or the Bass Road or Grantville Road as that was where the road went to when heading south. Melbourne was named for William Lamb, second Viscount Melbourne (1779 - 1848), a British Prime Minister. (21)

Normanby Street
George Augustine Consantine Phipps, second Marquis of Normanby was the Governor of Queensland 1871 - 1874, Governor of New Zealand 1874 - 1878 and then Governor of Victoria 1879 - 1884. (22)

Footnotes
(1) Bakewell & Lyall https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2017/08/mickle-bakewell-and-lyall.html
(2) Barkly -  Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barkly-sir-henry-2936

(3) Brunt - The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson ( Cheshire, 1968) and In the Wake of the Pack Tracks: a history of the Shire of Berwick (Berwick Pakenham Historical Society, 1982).
(4) Cameron - The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson ( Cheshire, 1968)

(5) Childers - Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/childers-hugh-culling-eardley-3202

(6) Clarendon - Encyclopaedia Britannica - https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-William-Frederick-Villiers-4th-earl-of-Clarendon

(7) Codrington - http://www.historyhome.co.uk/forpol/crimea/people/cod-tonW.htm

(8) Lecky - The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson ( Cheshire, 1968) and In the Wake of the Pack Tracks: a history of the Shire of Berwick (Berwick Pakenham Historical Society, 1982). Obituary in the South Bourke & Mornington Journal, February 27, 1884, see here.

(9) Lyons - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - available via the State Library of Victoria

(10) Russell - Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/russell-john-2619

(11) Sladen - Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sladen-sir-charles-4589

(12) Stawell - Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stawell-sir-william-foster-4635

(13) Barkley - Actually Barkly - see Footnote 2

(14) Berwick - named for the town of Berwick. Captain Robert Gardiner (1812 - 1889) one of the first European settlers in the Berwick area,  selected land in 1837. Gardiner named his property Melville Park, after his father Melville William Gardiner. The Gardiner family had a connection to Berwick-upon-Tweed in the United Kingdom and this influenced the naming of town of Berwick

(15) Bowen - Australian Dictionary of Biography -  https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bowen-sir-george-ferguson-3032

(16) Camms - The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson ( Cheshire, 1968) and Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books.

(17) Canterbury - Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/canterbury-third-viscount-3161

(18) Hotham Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hotham-sir-charles-3803

(19) Latrobe - Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/la-trobe-charles-joseph-2334

(20) Loch - Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/loch-henry-brougham-4033

(21) Melbourne - Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - available via the State Library of Victoria

(22) Normanby - Australian Dictionary of Biography - https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/normanby-second-marquess-of-4307

Another version of this post, which I wrote and researched,  has appeared on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past and other places.