William A. Smith Lace Factory Dandenong

Lace Street in Eumemmerring, is the only reminder of the William A. Smith (Vic) Pty Ltd Lace Factory which operated there from 1951 until the 1970s. The name of the suburb where the factory was located has changed over the years and has been known as Dandenong, Doveton and Eumemmerring (1)

The Company had a presence in Melbourne from 1931 operating in Flinders Lane (2), but this factory considerably expanded its operations in Australia. The move may have been prompted by the conditions the factory endured in England during the Second World War - 

Lace Firm Carried On Under difficulties During War. The Dandenong lace factory of William A. Smith (Vic.) Pty. Ltd., which is to commence operations near the Eumemmering Creek on the Princes Highway, is an off-shoot of an old-established Nottingham firm. In company with many other English industries the firm had its war-time troubles, but showed enterprise in over-coming them. In 1941 Mr. Smith's Nottingham factory was completely destroyed in an air raid and his house - Montroyal - at Castle Donington, became temporary headquarters of the firm. Almost every room was used for business. The garage and a shed became “factories”. Later Mr. Smith obtained premises in Long Eaton, from which lace goods are shipped all over the world. The establishment of the Dandenong factory is not to alter the status of either of the Long Eaton or Castle Donnington works where it will be “business as usual.” (3)

The first report of the establishment of the new factory in rural surroundings... just outside of Dandenong was in The Herald who reported in March 1948 that - 

First lace-producing factory in Australia will be built in Victoria this year by one of England's largest lace manufacturers.  He is Mr William A. Smith, owner of three lace factories in northern England and managing director of William A. Smith Ltd. (Nottingham), manufacturers and exporters of laces, nets, veilings and fancy lines. Mr Smith arrived in Australia last month on a tour of agencies in Australia and New Zealand. He said today that he had bought five acres of land for the factory at Dandenong. He will spend £20,000 to open the factory, which will process unbleached laces from his English factories. He explained that it would be impracticable for some years to start a factory actually manufacturing lace from raw materials, which he said would cost at least £250,000. (4).

Later reports said that the site was actually seven acres in size. It was located  on the Princes Highway, surrounded on the west and north sides by the Eumemmering Creek, at the bottom end of Power Road. At the time of the construction of the factory, Power Road was a dead-end road because its southern end is cut by a bad wash, and also by the Eumemmering creek. (5) The Berwick Shire constructed Power Road to the Princes Highway in, I believe, 1954. (6)

This is a 1963 aerial of Doveton / Eumemmerring. Click on photo to enlarge it. The tree-lined Eumemmerring Creek, snakes through from top right to bottom left and just to the right of the Creek, at the bottom, you can see Lace Street (effectively a straight continuation of Power Road) and the two factories on the western (left) side, along with the three Manager's houses. Further north, the two ovals are Robinson Reserve and L.S. Reid oval. The intersection middle top is that of Frawley Road/Paperbark Street with Power Road. Follow Power Road to the bottom of the photo and it intersects with the Princes Highway.

Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries

In December 1950 the Dandenong Journal  had the following report on the impending opening of the factory - 

The new lace factory erected by William A. Smith (Vic.) Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of William A. Smith (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., of Flinders Lane, Melbourne, just over the Eumemmering Creek, on the Princes Highway, Dandenong, hopes to be in production early in January. Eventually a staff of from 50 to 100 will be employed finishing laces, nets, veilings, lace and linen handkerchiefs and lace and linen napery. Skilled staff from the firm’s head quarters in Nottingham (Eng.) is on the way and the firm will be seeking local labor to train to supplement this. 

For 22 years Mr. W. A. Smith, of Castle Donington (Eng.) has been exporting lace to Australia, where they have had their local headquarters in Flinders Lane. Lace will be exported from England to Dandenong, where the new factory will make it into finished lace goods. Mr. Alan Smith, managing director of the firm, will stay in Australia for two years. Mr. Smith, snr., has had a house built at Dandenong and in tends to divide his time between here and Castle Donington. Mr. John W. Pegg, works manager at Castle Donington, is coming out to take over the position of Works Manager at Dandenong, but the English works will be still carried on. Mr. Smith, snr., was for some time a member of Castle Donington Parish and Rural Councils. His Montroyal herd of Ayrshire cattle is well-known throughout England. (7)

Advertisement for staff at the Lace Factory, April 1951.

Not the way that we would advertise for staff these days.

Dandenong Journal, April 18, 1951 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222351819

Advertisement for staff at the Lace Factory, June 1951.

Dandenong Journal, June 20, 1951 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222353060

I don't have an exact date of the factory opening but as noted in the Dandenong Journal in June 1951 the factory was now producing. A staff of 25 is at present operating the new, modern machines with which the factory has been equipped, and more experienced machinists are needed.  (8). Two Managers houses were also built at this time and a third house erected was when the factory expanded in 1954. (9)

The employees of the lace factory in 1951.

Image: Casey Cardinia Libraries

In January 1954, the factory began expanding, as once again the Dandenong Journal reported -

That clean, neat-looking lace factory which William A. Smith (Vic.) Pty. Ltd. established in the attractive setting beside the Eumemmerring Creek, has been so successful that increased accommodation has become necessary. Work has commenced on the erection of a new factory on the creek side of the present building. This will be a separate unit, which will greatly extend the local output of this progressive local firm. (10)

In June 1954, the same paper provided an update on the progress - 

Shortly lace-manufacturing will be added to Dandenong’s achievements. In an interesting address to Dandenong Rotarians last Friday night Mr. W. A. Smith, of the Dandenong lace firm, of William A Smith (Vic.) Pty Ltd., revealed that in the new extensions being erected by the company... it is proposed to install a circular lace-making machine which will manufacture lace for table use. The machine should be installed by the end of the year. So far the factory has confined itself to making up articles from lace made by the company overseas but Mr. Smith said from his experience he knew we could make lace here as good as in any country on the Continent. They looked forward to being able to export a lot of their products. There was not another country in the world that used as much lace per person as Australia and New Zealand, he added. (11) 

Advertisement for staff, 1953.

Dandenong Journal March 4, 1953 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/215817660

We have three reports of visits to the factory - in 1953 the members of the Dandenong Country Women's Association visited -

A very pleasant and instructive afternoon was spent by members on Thursday, April 9th, when, by courtesy of Mr. Smith (of W. A. Smith Pty. Ltd.), we were shown over the Lace and Linen Factory on the Princes Highway. In this very modern and beautifully lit workroom, the girls were as “busy as bees.” We were all most impressed by the confident way the machines were handled. Squares of linen were edged with lace, then passed on to the presser, who used a cute spray to damp them. After being pressed, they were folded, then on to be boxed and tied into bundles. All kinds of napery were being made up ready to send off to all parts of Australia. We inspected the locker rooms, etc., and the canteen, where Mr. Smith acted as host whilst we had tea. Each member was presented with a handkerchief with Mr. Smith’s compliments. Mrs. Reid, our president, thanked Mr. Smith and his assistants for their kindness in showing us just what is being done in yet another industry which will help us to be proud of “Made in Australia.” (12)

In April 1959 the Australian Women's Weekly visited Dandenong and presented an interesting snapshot of the City -

Dandenong - a symbol of industrial strength.

Dandenong, gateway to Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley, is Australia's youngest city - and one of its most prosperous and virile. Since 1948 Dandenong has grown from a sleepy rural market township to a thriving industrial centre with more than 200 factories. Its resident population has swelled in this time from 6000 to nearly 30,000. Plans are being made to accommodate a population of more than 80,000 by 1970. Millions of pounds have been invested in the spectacular development of Dandenong, created a city in March this year. In the past few years more than 130 major industries have established big plants in the area. They include manufacturers of such international- repute as General Motors, Chesebrough's, Rootes, Heinz, International Harvester, and Volkswagen. (13)

The reporter visited the Lace Factory and wrote - 

Mr. W. A. Smith, who with his sons Alan and Terry transferred his lace-making and napery firm from England to Dandenong in 1947, claims that his was the city's first factory. At his 300-year-old walnut desk, brought from England. Mr. Smith sighed "for the old days at Dandenong (1947) when not a light could be seen for miles at night." "Look at the bustle now," he said. A heavy stream of traffic packed the four-lane highway in front of the factory. An estimated 20,000 people are on Dandenong's roads in morning and evening peak hours, many of them commuters from nearby towns. (14)

This picture accompanied the Australian Women's Weekly article about Dandenong and 

shows some of the Lace Factory employees.
Australian Women's Weekly, April 22, 1959 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48077502

In 1964 the City of Dandenong  produced a booklet promoting Dandenong. It looked at demographics, education, social and cultural life and businesses including the Lace Factory. This is the text -

Happy the Bride in the Dandenong veil - 

Here comes the bride, radiant, happy and more than likely wearing a veil made at the Dandenong factory of William A. Smith (Vic.) Pty Ltd...

This firm of lace and linen manufacturers came out to Australia after World War II, after its factory in Nottinghamshire was destroyed by Nazi bombs. Although the company had a branch in Melbourne to distribute its products, it took a war to transplant the company entirely to Victoria - and Dandenong was selected.

Success breeds success, and now the firm has a SECOND factory operating on its eight-acres site, one plant concentrating on bridal wear, and the other purely on lace manufacture for ladies' handkerchiefs, napery and tablecloths.

Now the Smiths are as Australian as the gum trees. The plant at Dandenong employs more than 70 people and is growing all the time. 

It takes more than bombs to break the British spirit... (15)

The William A. Smith Lace Factory

Image: From the booklet - Dandenong produced by the City of Dandenong in 1964. You can see the full booklet here  https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2024/01/work-live-and-play-in-dandenong-booklet.html

Advertisement for staff, 1971.

The Age August 14, 1971, page 71, from newspapers.com

What happened to the Lace Factory? It closed in the 1970s presumably as it could no longer compete with cheaper imports. On September 28, 1977 at 3.00pm the W. A. Smith Pty. Ltd. Lace Factory site was put up for auction. Later, all the buildings were demolished. (16) The Company moved to Collingwood and operated as an importer, although they still had premises at 187 Flinders Lane in the early 1980s. (17)

The Lace Factory site for auction

The Age September 20, 1977 page 13 from newspapers.com

Acknowledgement: This is a much expanded and updated version of a post I wrote in 2013 on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past The basis of that research was Doveton: a brief history by Maria Harding (Friends of Doveton Library, 1993).

Trove list - I have created a short list of articles on the Lace Factory on Trove, access it here.

Footnotes

(1) Dandenong was the original name for the area when the Lace Factory was established. In October 1954 the area became Doveton. On May 20, 1981 that part of Doveton became Eumemmerring. See my place names list here https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2022/02/place-names-and-their-meanings-from-old.html and my post on the Grassmere / Doveton name here   https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2022/02/grassmere-becomes-doveton.htm

(2) Establishment date in Melbourne - Dandenong Journal, February 21, 1951, see here. Location of William A. Smith in Flinders Lane: Sands and McDougall Directory for 1935, 1940 and 1945 list them at  301-311 Flinders Lane. In 1947 an advertisement lists them at 318-324 Flinders Lane and they are still at this location in the 1965 Sands and McDougall Directory. In the 1970 Sands and McDougall the firm is at 187 Flinders Lane. (see also footnote 17)

(3) Dandenong Journal, December 13, 1950, see here.

(4) The Herald, March 27, 1948, see here.

(5) Dandenong Journal, April 30, 1952, see here.

(6) Dandenong Journal, March 24, 1954, see here.

(7) Dandenong Journal, December 6, 1950, see here.

(8) Dandenong Journal, June 20, 1951, see here.

(9) Harding, Maria Doveton: a brief history (Friends of Doveton Library, 1993). p. 7

(10) Dandenong Journal, January 27, 1954, see here.

(11) Dandenong Journal, June 2, 1954, see here.

(12) Dandenong Journal, April 15, 1953, see here.

(13) Australian Women's Weekly, April 22, 1959, see here.

(14) Ibid

(15) Dandenong produced by the City of Dandenong in 1964. You can see the full booklet here  https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2024/01/work-live-and-play-in-dandenong-booklet.html

(16) The Age September 20, 1977 p. 13 from newspapers.com

(17) Harding, op. cit., p.7. Mrs Harding writes that they moved to Collingwood however into the 1980s they still had premises at 187 Flinders Lane (see also footnote 2)

William A. Smith advertisement, 1982

The Age, January 2, 1982 p. 46, from newspapers.com

John and Margaret Doveton - the namesakes of the suburb of Doveton

The suburb of Doveton was established in the mid 1950s by the Housing Commission to provide housing for the employees of the 'Big Three' Industrial companies, International Harvester Company, H.J Heinz and General Motors Holden. The area was originally known as Grassmere or Eumemmerring, which I have written about here.  However in September 1954 the new suburb was named Doveton after Captain John Doveton. This is an interesting choice given that Captain and Mrs Doveton were only in the area for ten years and there are other families with a much longer or much earlier connection to the area. They had already been remembered in the area by the naming of Doveton Avenue, which dates from the mid-1920s (1). Doveton is variation of the name Dufton which means dove farm or farm where doves are kept (2).

This post looks at the life of John and Margaret Elizabeth Doveton.  They were actually first cousins, he was the son of John Bazett Doveton and Margaret was the daughter of Francis Crossman Doveton. They married on October 8, 1873 at All Saints Church in St Kilda. Their marriage certificate tells us that he was a Master Mariner, born in Saltford, Somerset and she was a Spinster, born in Tasmania. Usually marriage certificates state the age of the couple, but theirs just said they were of 'full age', however he was 30 and she was 29.

The marriage notice of John and Margaret Doveton.

The Argus October 10 1873 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5873339

These are the signatures of John Doveton and Margaret Doveton from their Marriage Certificate. We don't have any photographs of them, so it is the only physical connection we have to them.

After they married they lived for a  time in Barkly Street, St Kilda and then Murray Street, Prahran and during this time, John continued his career as a master mariner. There was a report in The Age of September 21, 1874 about the new steamship Durham which had just arrived from London after 47 days of sailing. Mr John Doveton is listed as the Second Officer (3).  The Argus has various reports, in the Shipping Intelligence column, of Captain Doveton arriving and departing Melbourne as the Captain of the Julia Percy, then the Tamar and then the Southern Cross. 

A report in the Hobart Mercury of May 8, 1882  (see below) said Southern Cross, under Doveton, run ashore on the Vansittart Shoals between Babel Island and Cape Barren in Bass Strait. Captain Doveton was suspended from the Command, pending an enquiry. Another report in the same paper of  May 23, 1882 said that Captain Doveton had resigned. After this, the only reports I could find about Captain Doveton involved him supervising work at the Wright, Orr & Co. floating Dry Dock and later at the Alfrred Graving Dock, so it appears he was still involved in the maritime industry, but no longer went to sea (4).

The Southern Cross runs aground

Hobart Mercury, Monday, 8 May 1882.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9009163

In 1893, the couple moved to Grassmere, just east of Dandneong, which at the time was still very much a country town.  The first listing for Captain Doveton in the Shire of Berwick Rate books was in 1893/94. He owned a house and 2½ acres at Lot 53, Parish of Eumemmerring, in Grassmere. The following year he is listed as having another 2½ acres, Lot 56, so five acres in all.  Even though Captain Doveton was listed as the ratepayer, according to the Title, the property was actually purchased in Margaret's name. From 1900 it was leased out and was sold on August 21 1903 to Robert Skinner. The house, which is now demolished was located around Gumbuya Close, off Doveton Avenue (5).

The thirteen voters on the Supplementary Electoral Roll at Oakleigh in the Kooyong Electorate in 1913, including John and Margaret Doveton.

Ancestry.com Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 

When the property was leased they moved to Oakleigh and in the 1903 Electoral Rolls they were at Ferntree Gully Road, in Oakleigh and his occupation was a Poultry Farmer. They then moved to  Burnett, Atherton Road, Oakleigh, where John Doveton died at the age of 61, on April 7, 1904. He is buried at Oakleigh Cemetery. Margaret was still listed at Atherton Road in the 1909 Electoral Rolls, but by 1912 had moved to Williams Road, Prahran, then various addresses in Malvern until 1924 when she is listed at Everdon, Rose Street, Surrey Hills. She was still there in the 1937 Electoral Rolls, however her address when she died on December 13, 1941 was 13 Randell Street, Mordialloc. She was 97 years old and was buried at St Kilda Cemetery, where her father was buried, and not for some reason at Oakleigh with her husband. The couple did not have children (6).

Life of Margaret Doveton

The Argus, November 17, 1941 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8217085

We have looked at John and Margaret's life together, now we will have  a look at their lives before they married.

John Doveton was the son of  John Bazette Doveton and Mary Harriett  Fenton, they had married in October 1838 in Saltford, Somerset. The Minister who performed the ceremony was the Reverend John Frederick Doveton, the father of the groom.  John was baptised on February 21, 1843 in Saltford,  I don't have  his date of birth, but based on the date of his baptism its is likely to be the end of 1842 or beginning of 1843. His father, who was also a Church of England Minister, actually performed the baptism ceremony on his son.  John's father and grandfather had both studied at Oxford University and they both held the position of Rector of the parish of Burnett, Somerset (7). As  a reminder of his childhood, John and Margaret had named their house in Atherton Road, Oakleigh Burnett.

John Doveton's father, John Bazett Doveton went to Oxford University. John Frederick Doveton is the grandfather of both John and Margaret. 

Ancestry.com. Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 

The family were quite well off. In the 1851 Census the family is listed at Burnett - John Bazett (aged 44, occupation Rector of Burnett), Harriet (aged 32) and their children, Catherine (aged 9), our John (aged 8), Bazett (aged 6), Caroline (aged 3) and Ella (aged 1). They also had a Governess and four female servants living in the house. In the 1861 Census, John Bazette Doveton was still the Rector of Burnett, and there are two more children in the family, Mary Harriet aged 9 and Henry aged only 10 months (8).

John Doveton's Second Mate Certificate

National Maritime Museum. Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927

John went away to sea and in May 1862 gained the qualification of Second mate (9). He obviously sailed his way to Victoria as he married Margaret in 1873, but I don't have any details of this part of his career. Margaret Elizabeth Doveton was born in Hobart on November 17, 1844 to Francis Crossman Doveton and Margaret Bostock. Francis and Margaret had married in Launceston in September 1842. They had another daughter Rachel Emily in Tasmania in 1846 and then moved to Victoria where they had three more children, Annie (1848), Francis (1850) and John (1852). Margaret died in 1853 and in 1855 Francis married Mary Ann Snell and they had eight children together (10).

Francis Crossman Doveton, was another son of the Reverend John Frederick Doveton and his wife Elizabeth Crossman and thus the brother of the Reverend John Bazett Doveton (11).  Francis joined the British Army, when he was married his occupation was listed as a Lieutenant in the 51st Regiment. The 51st  Regiment (2nd Yorkshire West Riding), or The King's Own Light Infantry Regiment escorted convict ships to Australia in 1837 when they left Tasmania for Bengal in 1846, Francis remained behind (12). Francis and Margaret moved to Victoria around this time. From 1851 Francis had a number of Government appointments the first being the Commissioner of Crown lands in the Buninyong and Lodden Districts (13).  This covered Ballarat and he was stationed at Ballarat during the Eureka uprising where he had the unpopular responsibility of leading the troopers against the gold diggers  (14).

Francis Crossmam Doveton's first Victorian Government appointment.

Victoria Government Gazette http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1851/V/general/8.pdf

In 1852 he was appointed a Magistrate of the Colony of Victoria, in 1855 Chairman of the Local Court of the District of Hepburn and a Police Magistrate; and in 1858 he was appointed a Warden of the Gold Fields, then a Chinese Protector and in 1860 he was appointed as a Coroner, acting at Daylesford. Francis Doveton died on July 10, 1905 and is buried at the St Kilda Cemetery (15). As you can see in the article below, Doveton Street in Ballarat is named for him.

Obituary of Francis Crossman Doveton

The Age, July 13, 1905 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198601487

As we saw before Margaret named her house in Surrey Hills, Everdon, and there is an Everdon Hall, a Grade II listed building, in Everdon, Northamptonshire, which was built around 1820 for General Doveton, so Margaret and John are almost certainly connected to him. The article, above, mentions a Sir William Doveton (1753-1843), he apparently spent all his life on St Helena in the service of the East India Company, so possibly General Doveton was his brother (16). 

Everdon Hall. Grade II listed building. Photographer: Michale Trolove. 

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved] © Copyright Michael Trolove and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. This image has been cropped - the original is here https://www.geograph.org.uk/more.php?id=3321126

John and Margaret came from  a very well connected solid middle (upper?) class family. It is ironic, then, that the suburb of Doveton was from the start a working class suburb. It did, however, have  a strong sense of community. Dennis Glover grew up in Doveton in the 1960s and 1970s and has written about the suburb in his book An economy is not a society: winners and losers in the new Australia (Redback, 2015). Well worth tracking down to look back at time before economic growth was considered more important than community. There is a great interview with Dennis Glover here, in the Sydney Morning Herald  of February 18, 2014.

In conclusion, the fact that Captain John Doveton and Margaret Elizabeth Doveton were first cousins, means that Margaret should have as much status as the namesake of the suburb of Doveton as her husband has traditionally had.

Footnotes
(1) I have written about Grassmere, Eumemmerring and Doveton Avenue, here.
(2) Mills, A.D A dictionary of British Place names (Oxford University Press, 2003)
(3) The addresses come from the Rate book on Ancestry.com; The Age September 21, 1874, read here.
(4) Hobart Mercury May 8, 1882, see here; Hobart Mercury, May 23 1882, see here; The Argus, February 6 1885, see here;  The Herald, April 5, 1888, see here.
(5) Rate Books are at Casey Cardinia Libraries. The Title was in the Archive there. 
(6) Death certificates of John Doveton and Margaret Doveton. Electoral Rolls are on Ancestry.com.
(7) Marriage and Baptism certificates on Ancestry.com as is the list of Oxford University Alumni.
(8) U.K Census available on Ancestry.com
(9) Ancestry.com. UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927
(10) Tasmanian Archives and the Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages.
(11) Parents listed on Death Certificate.
(12) https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/51st-2nd-yorkshire-west-riding-or-kings-own-light-infantry-regiment

(13) Victoria Government Gazette http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/

(14) The Argus, November 17, 1941, see here.  
(15) Victoria Government Gazette http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/ ; Death Certificate.

(16) Everdon Hall - https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/06653/23             St Helena -  http://sainthelenaisland.info/importantpeople.htm

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past. I wrote the original in 2010, this is an updated and improved version.

Grassmere becomes Doveton

The suburb of Doveton, just east of Dandenong, was established in the mid 1950s by the Housing Commission to provide housing for the employees of the 'Big Three' Industrial companies, International Harvester Company (established 1952), H.J Heinz (1955) and General Motors Holden (1956) (1). 

The area was originally known as Dandenong or Eumemmerring or Grassmere and it was once part of the Eumemmerring Run. This run was 10, 560 acres (2)  and was taken up by Dr Farquhar McCrae (1807-1850) in 1839.  It was described as 'good sheep country'. Dr McCrae was the brother-in-law of Georgiana McCrae (1804-1890) who was married to his brother Andrew. Georgiana kept a journal, later published as Georgiana's Journal (3).   Later the same year it was taken over by Leslie Foster (1818-1900) or to give him his full name -  John Vesey Fitzgerald Leslie Foster, apparently known as 'alphabetical Foster’ due to his abundance of names (4).  Foster was, amongst other things, a cousin of Sir William Foster Stawell (1815-1889) who was appointed Victorian Attorney General in 1851 and became Chief Justice of Victoria in 1857. Stawell Street in Cranbourne was named after him, as well as the town of Stawell (5).  Foster also, in 1843, challenged Dr McCrae to a pistol duel over a land sale, when McCrae refused Foster whipped him and his horse with a horse whip. He was later fined £10 and had to pay £250 in damages (6).  Foster was a member of the Victorian Parliament, firstly in the Legislative Council, then the Assembly went on to help draft Victoria’s constitution, and acted as the administrator of the Colony between the departure of Governor La Trobe and the arrival of Governor Hotham (7). 

The Eumemmerring run is at the top of the map.

Squatting Runs, Western Port

Image: The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson (Cheshire, 1968), p.50.

Foster held the run until 1842 (8) when it was taken up by Edward Wilson (9) and James Stewart Johnson (10). Edward Wilson (1813-1878) was the owner of  The Argus newspaper. James Stewart Johnson (1811-1896), was amongst other things, a member of the Legislative Council. In 1846 when Thomas Herbert Power (1801-1873)  took over the property, which Power called Grassmere,  it went from around the Dandenong Creek all the way to Berwick (11).  Power was a business man and a member of the Legislative Council from 1856 until 1864 and had land in other areas including Hawthorn, where he lived.  He is  is the source of the name Power Road in Doveton. When he died in 1873 the value of his Estate was over £40,000. He still owned, according to his Probate papers 1,848 acres (747 hectares) in the Parish of Eumemmerring  when he died (12).

Probate papers of Thomas Power

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 28/P0002, 11/519

On October 30, 1888 Munro & Baillieu Estate Agents offered for sale  the Grassmere property of 3,000 acres (1214 hectares) subdivided into lots of between 1 acre and 20 acres (up to 8 hectares) (13). I realise that Power's Grassmere property was only 1848 acres when he died in 1873 and in 1880 when it was sub-divided it was described as 3,000 acres, I can only assume his family had purchased other adjacent land at some time.   It was described in the newspaper advertisements as being on the crest of  a delightful slope and only a few minutes walk from this happily situated and pretty township, so fast becoming a favourite residential estate. The pretty township was Dandenong (14).

Grassemere sale advertisement designed by the firm Batten & Percy, October 1888.

Dandenong Creek is the boundary on the west (left) side, the northern boundary is Heatherton Road, the southern boundary is the Princes Highway. The road running north to south is Power Road; the road running west to east is Kidds Road 

State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/157750

The area was called Grassmere well into the 1950s, when it was  renamed Doveton after John and Margaret Doveton in as we shall see, either 1953 or 1954. I have written about John and Margaret Doveton, here. There was already a reminder of the couple in the area - Doveton Avenue, which predates the name of the suburb by decades. John and Margaret Doveton's house was located in the vicinity of Doveton Avenue and they are, of course the source of the name of the road.  The earliest reference to Doveton Avenue, Grassmere that I can find is in 1927 in a death notice of Mr Siggins.

Death notice of John Siggins, who passed away at Doveton Avenue.

The Argus April 20, 1927   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3849944

This is another reference to Doveton Avenue, Grassmere, below, the wedding report of Miss Ethel Hilyear of Doveton Avenue, Grassmere to David Newport. They were married August 4, 1951.

The wedding of  Ethel Hilyear of Doveton Avenue.

Dandenong Journal April 22, 1951  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222354279

From around 1951 the farms at Grassmere were purchased by International Harvester, H.J. Heinz and General Motors Holden to construct their manufacturing plants (15). From the start there was some discussion as to what the area should be called. An article in the Dandenong Journal of October 24, 1951 (see below) talks about General Motors Holden feeling that Eumemmerring as an address is 'unwieldly', although apparently International Harvester thought it was a 'thundering nice name'. The Journal asked if anyone knew the origin of the name and a further article (also below) in the Journal said the name was Irish, which is unlikely. Jean Uhl, in her book Call back yesterday: Eumemmerring Parish writes that Ummemmering, later spelt Eumemmerring, was the native name to that part of the district over the Dandenong Creek, outside the township of Dandenong.....and in means 'we are pleased to agree with you' (16). 

Opinions on the Eumemmerring name

Dandenong Journal, October 24, 1951. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222355372

There was a suggestion that Eumemmerring was an Irish name.

Dandenong Journal November 21, 1951 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222355877

According to an article in paper, below, the name of Doveton was agreed to by the Shire of Berwick in April 1953 after  a request from the Hallam Progress Association (17).  This decision preceded the establishment of the Housing Commission project east of Dandenong, between the Dandenong and Eumemmerring Creeks.

The approval to change the name of Grassmere to Doveton

Dandenong Journal April 29, 1953 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215818852

The Dandenong Housing Commission Estate was announced in September 1954. Two thousand homes were to be built, with preference for the housing given to employees of International Harvester, H.J. Heinz and General Motors (18). It is interesting that the area is still called Dandenong, in the article, below, even though the Shire of Berwick had approved the use of the name Doveton for the area over a year before. 

Establishment of the Housing Commission Estate at what will become Doveton.

The Age September 27, 1954. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205396052

Although the Berwick Shire had agreed to adopting the name of Doveton over Grassmere in April 1953, the formal adoption of the name Doveton for the area and the Housing Commission Estate was in October 1954, according to the report in the Dandenong Journal - 
New Housing Commission Estate now Doveton - Following the decision of Berwick Shire Council at their last meeting to name the area between Kay’s Av. and the western boundary of the Shire  “Doveton,” advice has been received from the Housing Commission that it has decided to adopt this name for its estate, formerly known as the East Dandenong Estate...The Department of Crown 
Lands and Survey has also advised Berwick Shire Council that it has no objection to the area referred to being named “Doveton." (19). 

The name of Doveton is formally adopted.

Dandenong Journal October 13, 1954 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218513061

It does appear that the year 1954 was the year the name Grassmere was finally abandoned for the area east of Dandenong.  It is hard to know if it was still used informally by any old-timers who remained in the area. The Dandenong Journal on Trove only goes to 1954 and as there is also a town called Grassmere near Warnambool, later mentions could refer to that town. As a matter of interest, the modern day suburb of Eumemmering was gazetted on May 20, 1981 (20).  

Footnotes
(1) Harding, Maria  Doveton: a brief history (Friends of Doveton Library, 1993)
(2) Uhl, Jean Call back yesterday: Eumemmering Parish (Lowden Publishing, 1972), p. 8.
(3) Uhl., op.cit., p. 6.
(4) Leslie Foster, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.
(5) William Stawell, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. 
(6) Uhl., op.cit., p. 7.
(7) Leslie Foster, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(8) Dates of ownership from Billis, R.V & Kenyon, A.S.  Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip (Stockland Press, 1974).
(9) Edward Wilson,  read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.                               
(10) James Stewart Johnson,  read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.
(11) Uhl., op.cit., p. 10.
(12) Uhl, op. cit., passim; https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/people-in-parliament/re-member/details/24/782  His will is at the Public Records Office of Victoria.
(13) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, October 24, 1888, see here.
(14) Ibid.
(15) Dandenong Journal, August 29, 1951, see here.
(16) Uhl, op. cit., p. 6-7.
(17) Dandenong Journal April 29, 1953, see here.  
(18) The Age September 27, 1954, see here. 

(19) Dandenong Journal October 13, 1954, see here. 

(20) Harding, op. cit., p. 26.

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past. This is an updated and revised version.