Place names and their meanings from the old Shires of Berwick and Cranbourne and beyond

This is a list of place names and their meanings from the old Shires of Berwick and Cranbourne, the Bass Coast and neighbouring areas. There is some information provided on early schools in the area, as school names often reflect the fluidity of town names in the early days. They also indicate the locations of towns that no longer exist. I have been working on this list for years. I started it as a list of place names in the City of Casey and Shire of Cardinia, when I was Local History Librarian at Casey Cardinia Libraries and then I expanded it and it to include neighbouring area. It is still a work in progress and gets revised on occasions. The meanings and origins of place names, surnames and personal names is one my favourite areas of interest. There is sometimes more than one source for or interpretation of the origin of the place name, it is not an exact science.

The letters in round brackets refer to the sources used, which are listed at the end.

Anderson
Anderson was the closest Railway Station to San Remo, on the Nyora to Wonthaggi railway line. The Railway line took its first load of coal to Melbourne in February 1910 and the passenger service commenced in May 1910. In 1835, Samuel Anderson (1803-1863) and his business partner, Robert Massie, settled at Bass River. Samuel Anderson ‘discovered’  Anderson’s Inlet, however the town of Anderson was named for Samuel’s brothers - Thomas and Hugh - who took up land in the area in the 1850s. (Hor) (Hu) (Wh)

Army Road, Pakenham
Army Road marks the location of the salvation Army Boy's home established in Pakenham in 1900. It subsequently became a home for Girls and then a home for elderly men. The home closed in the 1920s. The Army Road School. No.3847, operated intermittently form 1914 until 1947. (W) (V)

Aura
See Menzies Creek.

Avonsleigh
John (J.W) and Anna wright owned a guesthouse called Avonsleigh House at the corner of Emerald-Macclesfield and Emerald Roads. The name was adopted in 1911. The area was previously known as East Emerald. See also Wright Railway Station. (C)

Balla Balla
The Balla Balla run on Rutherford inlet was taken up in 1839 by Robert Innes Allan. The meaning is uncertain. Ballarat is aboriginal for resting or camping place from balla 'resting on one's elbow; and arat 'place', so it could mean 'resting'. Another possible meaning is 'mud'. There is a Balla Balla river, near Whim Creek, in the Pilbara, Western Australia which was first recorded by Surveyor, Alexander Forrest in 1879. The name is thought to be derived from the Aboriginal word parla, from the Kariyarra language, meaning 'mud'. (B)

Ballarto Road
John Bakewell retained ownership of the Tooradin run in 1856 when his partnership with John Mickle and William Lyall dissolved. In the early 1860s, Bakewell subdivided the Tooradin run into smaller properties amongst which were Ballarto (the namesake of the road), Sherwood and Yallambie.  Ballarto, on the intersection of Ballarto Road and the South  Gippsland Highway, was held by James Smith Adams, jun., in the 1860s, then Hon. James Gibb and later Albert Nash. The town of Bullarto, near Daylesford, comes from the Aboriginal for 'place of plenty'. Ballarto was the original name for the Cardinia School. See also Cardinia. (B) (G) (Ca) (Cly) (V)

Bangholme
From the Aboriginal word for 'hut'. The name is taken from the cattle run, on the Bigning waterholes, taken up by Joseph Hawdon in 1837. Bigning was also known as Bangholme, Bangam or Barnham. (B) (G) (U)

Bank Box Siding 

See under Koala.

Bass River and Bass
Named after explorer George Bass (1771 - 1803), who ‘discovered’ Western Port in January 1798. You can read about Bass, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (B)

Baxter
Named after Captain Benjamin Baxter (c.1805 - 1892) who took up the Carrup Carrup Run in 1838. He held the run until 1860. He was also the first postmaster of Melbourne. (B)

Bayles
Named after Frederick Bayles (1884-1915), the first member of the Railway Construction Branch to be killed in World War One. Frederick arrived in Melbourne in August 1913, enlisted on August 20th,1914 and was Killed in Action at Gallipoli on May 8th, 1915. I have writen about Frederic Bayles, here. Bayles was the station on the Strzelecki line (opened June 29, 1922) for the Yallock Village settlement. The Bayles Railway Station closed February 1959. (B) (G)

Beaconsfield and Beaconsfield Upper
Named after Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli was the British Prime Minister 1868, 1874-1880. Some sources say that on the day he died in 1881 (April 19) a deputation waited on the Victorian Minister of Railways to have a station built at what is now Beaconsfield, however this incorrect as the railway station had opened December 1, 1879. The Post Office had opened on October 1, 1878. Beaconsfield originally referred to what we know call Beaconsfield Upper. The settlement which developed around the Station was at one time called Little Berwick or Lower Beaconsfield, however when a new Post Office was established there in June 1891, the town around the Station was officially known as Beaconsfield and the town in the hills, Beaconsfield Upper. Beaconsfield means ‘open land near a beacon or signal fire’. (B) (O) (W) (Wi)

Beenak
From the Aboriginal word for ‘hand basket’. Mount Beenak School, No.3764, operated intermittently between 1912 and 1928. (B) (V) (W)

Belgrave
Early European pioneers, Stephen and William Benson, called their property Mount Belgrave, after a chapel in Yorkshire, which their parents, Mr & Mrs R.G Benson, had attended in the 1840s. In 1904 the local railway station was renamed Belgrave, replacing the name of Monbulk. (C)

Bembridge
Bembridge School, No.4557, operated from 1937 until 1953, on a site on the Tooradin-Tyabb Road. After the school was closed, students transferred to the Pearcedale School. Bembridge comes from the Old English and means ‘place lying this side of the bridge’ (B) (O) (Pe)

Berwick
Captain Robert Gardiner (1812 - 1889) one of the first European settlers, 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. The word Berwick is from the Old English – ‘corn farm’ or ‘outlying part of an estate.’(E) (O)

Blind Bight
Named because it is ‘blind’ or hard to spot from the sea. First settlement in the town took place in 1974. (T)

Botanic Ridge
Formerly part of Cranbourne South. The City of Casey voted to create a new suburb known as Botanic Ridge on May 20th, 2008. The area is bounded by Pearcedale Road, Brown’s Road, Craig’s Road and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne. The name reflects the proximity to the Royal Botanic Gardens. (A)

Bowman’s Track
The track was established, around 1861, by Mrs Bowman, of the Gippsland Hotel on the Cardinia Creek, to link Beaconsfield to the Yarra track. It went from the inn yard around Mt Misery, O’Neil Road, Hughendon Road, Telegraph Road, then followed the ridge on what is now Beaconsfield-Emerald road, followed Paternoster Road ridge then along high ground to the east of Mount Burnett. It then reached the watershed dividing the Yarra basin and the creeks running to the Bunyip River, finally it followed what is now East Road and Beenak Road to the Upper Yarra country. Janet Bowman (nee Watt) was born in Kerriemuir, Angus in Scotland on November 22, 1810. In 1828, she married David Bowman, born in 1806 in Kerriemuir. The family arrived in Melbourne in 1840 and took up the Panty GurnGurn run on the Cardinia Creek in 1853 and established the Gippsland Hotel in 1855. David died in 1860 and Janet on January 21, 1904.  (Bow) (E) (W)

Bunyip
The Buneep Buneep cattle run was taken up by Henry Jennings in the early 1850s. The Bunyip, according to Aboriginal legend, was the ‘monstrous, swamp-dwelling creature with the harsh call’ (B) (W)

Caldermeade
Calder is Gaelic for ‘wood by stream’ and mead is a ‘meadow’. The town was named after Archibald McMillan’s property Caldermeade. The area and the railway station, which opened in February 1890, were originally known as Mac’s Lane (from McMillan’s Lane). (B) (G)

Cannibal Creek
The original name for Garfield. The term Cannibal Creek is believed to refer to the killing of dogs by dingoes and was the name of an early cattle run, also called Coonabul Creek, based around Mount Cannibal. Another interpretation is that the term comes from a corruption of the Aboriginal couna meaning ‘forehead’ and bal meaning ‘he’ or ‘she’. This possibly referred to the shape of Mount Cannibal, which was thought to resemble a head. I have also written about the name, here. 

See also Garfield. (B) (Fr) (Wa)

Cannons Creek
There are two suggested origins for the name of Cannon Creek, firstly that it was named for the Cannon family, early European settlers. They owned land around current day Glenalva Parade in Cannons Creek. Blake suggests that the town may have been named after one of ‘several public officers of this name during the 1860s.’ The first permanent resident of the town was Bert Watson in 1940. (A) (B) (T)

Cape Woolamai
Named by George Bass in January 1789. Bass described the Cape as ‘high and rather steep and resembling a snapper’s head’. Wollamai is Aboriginal for snapper (B)

Cardinia
There are two meanings listed for this name, related but slightly different. One version is that it comes from the Aboriginal ‘look towards the rising sun’, the other version suggests it means ‘sunrise’. The first school at Cardinia, and the area itself, was known as Pakenham South. This school, No.2139, operated in Bould Road, from 1873 until 1906. Cardinia School, No.3689, was opened in 1911 and was originally called Ballarto State School. The Shire of Cardinia was created from areas from the City of Cranbourne and the Shire of Pakenham and came into existence on December 15, 1994 at 4.00pm. 

(Ca) (G) (V) (VACL)

Carrington
The railway reached Lang Lang in February 1890 and Carrington was the original name of the Lang Lang Railway Station and the town that developed around the station. It was renamed Lang Lang in December 1890. Carrington was named after Charles Robert Carrington, the third Baron Carrington, who was Governor of New South Wales from 1885-1890. Carrington was later created the Marquess of Lincolnshire. Carrington had the honour of being the first living person, other than Queen Victoria, to ever appear on an Australian postage stamp. He and Governor Arthur Phillip jointly appeared on a New South Wales stamp in 1888. See also Lang Lang and Tobin Yallock. (Bo) (L)

Carrum Downs
Carrum Downs was in the Shire of Cranbourne and became part of the City of Frankston in the 1994 Council amalgamations. It takes its name from the Carrum Swamp, which was reclaimed when channels were created to take the waters of the Dandenong and Eumemmerring Creeks to the Bay. These creeks were connected to the man-made Carrum Outfall, now the Patterson River. The drainage works commenced in 1869. The name Carrum comes from the Garem Gam run which was taken up by Dr James Bathe and T.J Perry in 1840. This was also known as Gurn Gurn or Carrum Carrum. Garem Gam is thought to be Aboriginal for boomerang. (B) (G)

Casey
The City of Casey was named in honour of Lord Casey (1890-1976). Lord and Lady Casey lived at Edrington in Berwick. Lord Casey was a diplomat, a politician and the Governor General of Australia from 1965 until 1969. The City of Casey was created from the City of Berwick and parts of the City of Cranbourne. It came into being on December 15, 1994 at 4.00pm. You can read about Casey, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (A)

Catani
Named after Carlo Catani, Public Works Department Engineer. Catani (1852 -1918) was in charge of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Drainage Scheme from 1893. I have an entire blog devoted to  Carlo Catani, see it here. The Catani Railway Station opened June 29,1922 and closed in April 1950. The Catani State School, No. 4154, opened in January 1923 and closed December 1993. (G) (V)

Centreville
Centreville was a locality in Cranbourne South bounded by Cranbourne-Frankston Road to the north, Centre Road to the west, Pearcedale Road to the east and McKays Road to the south. There was a Centreville general store. (Ho) (M)

Chinaman Island, Western Port Bay
Chinese fishermen were said to live on this island. They ‘fished for the type of fish eaten by the Chinese, dried them and sent them to China’ (Ba)

Churchill Island
Named for John Churchill, of Dawlish in Devon, by Lieutenant James Grant. Churchill had supplied Grant with seeds of vegetables and fruits to plant for ‘the future benefits of our fellow-men be they countrymen, Europeans or Savages’. They were planted on Churchill Island. (Cut) (Re)

Clematis
The railway station on the Puffing Billy line was called Paradise Valley when it opened in 1902, the name was shortened to Paradise in 1908. The area was known as Paradise until 1921 when a public meeting voted to change the name to Clematis, after the wild clematis creeper that grew prolifically in the area. An early settler, Michael O’Connor, named his farm Paradise and his house Eden House, which became the Paradise Hotel c.1926. (B) (C) (Fid)

Clyde
Named after the River Clyde in Scotland. The name was originally given to a watercourse that divided the Mayune and the Garem Gun runs. Apparently, a shepherd named James McKay, who worked for Alexander Cameron (1813 -1896) had cut the name on a tree whilst watering sheep, the name was then used for the creek and then the town. Clyde was initially based north of the existing town along Berwick Road, basically between Patterson Road and Hardy’s Road. When the railway went through in 1888, the town which developed around the railway station became known as Clyde and the original town was called Clyde North. (Cl) (G)

Cockatoo
Named Cockatoo Creek in 1859 by gold diggers, because of the abundance of cockatoos. The town was settled in the 1870’s. The railway station was originally called Devon when the Puffing Billy line opened in 1900. It changed to Cockatoo Creek in 1901and then shortened to Cockatoo in 1904, though the Post Office retained the named of Cockatoo Creek until the First World War.      (B) (Fid) (W)

Cora Lynn
Cora Lynn was originally called Koo Wee Rup Central and renamed Cora Lynn on July 1st, 1907, when the Progress Association requested that the newly established postal service be established under the new name of Cora Lynn, to prevent the confusion of the name with Koo Wee Rup. Joe Dineen had recalled that it was the Head Teacher of the school, John McGibbon, who proposed the name, after the scenic rocky gorge and popular picnic area on the North Esk River, just out of Launceston in Tasmania. The name Cora Lynn comes from the Gaelic coire meaning ‘cauldron or kettle’ and linn ‘pool’. (B) (D)

Corinella
Aboriginal for running water. Corinella is the location of Settlement Point. This was the first settlement in Victoria and was established by Captain Samuel Wright on December 12, 1826. It was abandoned on February 19, 1829. Corinella was officially proclaimed a town in 1872. A pier was constructed in 1884. Corinella School No.1392 opened in May 1874. Corinella East School No.2224 opened in December 1879 and closed April 1896, re-opened as St Hellier State School in 1900, closed and re-opened in 1918, opened in a new building in 1935 as The Gurdies and finally closed in 1962. (B) (Co) (Wh)

Cornucopia
A locality near Tynong North. Cornucopia was the name of a property owned by Arthur and Inez Weatherhead at Tynong North and later on the name of a Folk Museum, also at Tynong North, established by their son Max. Cornucopia comes from the Latin ‘horn of plenty’, a mythical horn able to supply whatever is desired. (We)

Coronet Bay
The area was originally the Yoohooga sheep run owned by Harry Peck, author of The Memoirs of a Stockman. The land was sub-divided in 1959 and called Coronet Bay. (Bi) (Pet)

Cowes
Named in 1865 by Commander Henry Laird Cox, who surveyed Western Port, after Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The name Cowes on the Isle of Wight came from the supposed resemblance of sandbanks, where the town was established, to cows. (B) (O)

Cranbourne
There are two possible origins of the Cranbourne name. The Ruffy brothers were the first Europeans to settle permanently in the Cranbourne area, on the Mayune run, and they operated the Cranbourne Inn. The Inn was named after a town in Berkshire, England. Gunson suggests that Cranbourne was named for Viscount Cranborne (no u), the brother of the British Prime Minister. Viscount Cranborne was born in 1821 and developed blindness as a very small child. He died in 1865, and thus his brother succeeded to the title and then became the Marquis of Salisbury in 1868 when their father died. Salisbury was the British Prime Minister on three occasions between 1885 and 1902. The word Cranbourne means ‘stream frequented by cranes or herons’ See my blog posts on Cranbourne street names, here. (B) (G) (O)

Crouch’s Beach
Les Crouch was one of the early European settlers at Warneet. He had a shack / holiday house on the beach from 1925. The area was locally known as Crouch’s Beach until it was officially called Warneet. See also Warneet. (Ba) (T)

Dalmore
Named after Duncan MacGregor’s estate (see McGregors Road entry).  Previously called Koo Wee Rup West and renamed Dalmore in 1909. The Dalmore Railway Station was firstly known as Peer’s Lane, then Koo Wee Rup West and finally in 1909, Dalmore. Dalmore comes from dale ‘valley’ and more ‘pond’. Peer’s Lane (now Dalmore Road) was named after a local land owner Frederick Peers (1843-1896).  (B) (Bo) (G)

Dalyston
Area originally known as Price’s Corner, after the Price family who moved to the area in 1856, it changed its name to Dalyston around 1910. Named after Patrick Daly, Shire Councillor from 1899- 1924. Patrick and his brothers, John and Charles, arrived in the area in 1880. The School which opened in October 1900 was originally called Bridge Creek, No.3376 and changed its name to Dalyston in May 1912. (Da) (Wh)

Dandenong
From the Aboriginal meaning ‘lofty mountain’. Early survey maps spelt the name Tanjenong or Tangenong. (U)

Devon Meadows
The land was originally part of the Sherwood run, until it was sub-divided by owner Benjamin Cox. Cox named the estate Devon Meadows and donated five acres of land for a Mechanic’s Institute and School. Devon is an English County. (B) (G) (R)

Dewhurst
Hurst means ‘wooded hill’. The original town was established in the 1920s and the area now forms part of the Cardinia Reservoir, which was completed in 1973.The Dewhurst School, No. 4522, operated from 1934 until 1953. (B) (O) (V) (W)

Diamond Hill
A locality near Dandenong - the rise just over the railway crossing on the South Gippsland Highway or Cranbourne Road as it was called in the early days. It extended south to around Green's Road. Read more about Diamond Hill, here.

Doveton
Named after Captain John Doveton and Mrs Margaret Doveton, early European settlers. Captain Doveton (1843-1904) and Margaret (1844-1941) were first cousins, their fathers were brothers. They married at All Saints Church in St Kilda in 1873. The suburb was officially named in October 1954. Residents in the area previously used Eumemmerring or Dandenong or Grassmere as an address I have written about John and Margaret Doveton, here and how Eumemmerring and Grassemere became Doveton, here. (Do) (RB) (U)

Drouin
There are two possible derivations - either it is from the Aboriginal word drouran meaning ‘north wind’ or it is named after a Frenchman, called Drouin, who ‘invented a chlorination process for ore treatment’ according to Blake. I can’t find any evidence for the existence of Monsieur Drouin, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t correct. (B)

Emerald
Local historian, Frank McGuire, says that the Emerald diggings were so named at a meeting on March 12, 1859, on the basis that the discoverers of the gold diggings were predominantly natives of Ireland, the Emerald Isle. However, Helen Coulson, says the town derived its name from nearby Emerald Creek, which had been named after an early prospector Jack Emerald. Emerald, the town, was first officially known as Main Ridge. Gold was found in the Emerald area in 1858. Emerald, the town, was first officially known as Main Ridge. The first Emerald school, No.2110, was located on what is now Avon Road in Avonsleigh. The existing primary school, Emerald Township School, No.3381, was opened in 1901 and moved to the current site in 1909. In the 1871 Census, the Emerald gold field was referred to by Government officials as Irishtown to distinguish it from the township of Emerald. The lush vegetation apparently reminded some people of Ireland. (B) (C) (V) (Wa) and personal correspondence from Frank McGuire.

Endeavour Hills
Named after the Endeavour, Captain Cook’s ship. The area was officially gazetted as a suburb on July 14, 1971. First land sales took place on November 24, 1973. Other suggested names for the area were Piney Ridge after a property in the area or Pine Hills in recognition of the many pine trees in the area. Many streets in Endeavour Hills are named for the crew and passengers from the Endeavour, see the list here. (A)

Eumemmerring
From the Aboriginal ‘we are pleased to agree with you’. Ummemmering‘was the Native name given to that part of the district just over the Dandenong Creek outside the township of Dandenong’ (Uhl). The Doveton and Hallam area was previously known as Eumemmerring. School, No.244, began in 1858 as the Eumemmerring Denominational School, then became a State School, changed its name to Hallam’s Road in 1906 and to Hallam in 1923. The modern suburb of Eumemmerring was gazetted on May 20th, 1981. See also Hallam. I have written about Eumemmerring, here (Do) (U) (V)

Evans Inlet, Western Port Bay
Named after Matthew Evans (1836-1909), early settler at Tooradin. (T)

Evelyn
County of Evelyn. Named after William John Evelyn, Member of Parliament for Surrey West, England, 1849-1857. (B)

Fielder Railway Station
A station on the Puffing Billy line, between Cockatoo and Gembrook. It opened in 1928. M.T Fielder is listed on the Parish Plan as a landowner in the area. (Fid) (P)

Five Mile
A town on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, five miles from the Main Drain outlet on Western Port Bay. Also known as Koo Wee Rup North. The Koo Wee Rup North School, No. 3198, opened on July 7,1894 and closed in November 1959 when the students were transferred to Pakenham Consolidated School. (V)

Five Ways
Descriptive name. Road junction where Clyde Road, Fisheries Road, Finsbury Road meet the South Gippsland Highway. (M)

Flinders
Federal electorate which covers part of the Casey Cardinia region. Named after Matthew Flinders (1774 - 1814) Flinders was a navigator and a hydrographer who, amongst other achievements, circumnavigated Tasmania with George Bass from October 7, 1798 to January 12, 1799 and proved that it was an island and not attached to the mainland. You can read about Flinders, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Fountain Gate
The Fountain Gate housing estate was designed in the 1960s by architect Robin Boyd in conjunction with developer Isador Magid. There is a fountain at the entrance to the estate. Isador Magid also developed the Mountain Gate estate at Knox and the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre, which opened March 11, 1980. (A) (He) (Ste)

Frankston
Most likely named for General Sir Thomas Harte Franks (1802-1862). He was born in Mallow, County Cork in Ireland, joined the British Army in 1825 and came to prominence in the Sikh Wars (1845-1846, 1848-1849). The theory that Frankston was named for Charles Frank who was murdered by Aborigines in 1836 is not supported, according to Michael Jones, the author of Frankston: Resort to City. (J)

French Island
Originally named Ile des Francais (Island of the French people) by the 1802 French scientific expedition led by Captain Nicholas Baudin. The island was renamed French Island as early as 1826. (Co)

Garfield
The town was originally called Cannibal Creek and re-named Garfield in 1887 in honour of the assassinated American President, James Abram Garfield, who was shot July 2, 1881 and died September 19, 1881 at the age of 49. Garfield Railway Station was originally known as Hopetoun, after Lord Hopetoun (1860-1908), the seventh Earl of Hopetoun and first Marquess of Linlithgow. Lord Hopetoun was the Governor of Victoria and later on the first Governor-General of Australia. Cannibal Creek State School, No. 2724, opened 1886 near the railway line and in 1888 was relocated to what is now called the Princes Highway, west of North Garfield Road. In May 1887, the Cannibal Creek Railway Siding was renamed Garfield and the school was renamed two months later in the July.  In 1899 the School building was re-located to Garfield Road at the top of the hill, half-way between the Princes Highway and the Railway Station. In 1910 the Garfield School moved to a new building on its present site near the Railway Station. The old building was removed in 1914 to North Garfield where it became State School No.3489.See also Cannibal Creek (B) (Fr) (Gar) (V) (Wa)

Gembrook
Gemstones were found in a creek by the Gembrook Mining Company. Albert Le Souef, part of the Company, named the creek Gem Brook. The town itself was pegged out in 1874. There have been five schools called Gembrook. Gembrook, No.2506, began in 1879 as the part time school No.2110 and became full-time in 1889. Classes took place in the Union Church from 1884 until it moved to the Main Street in 1906 and to the present site in 1915. Pakenham Upper School, No.2155, was called Gembrook South from 1879 until 1916. Gembrook West, No.3211, operated for just over a year from August 1894 until October 1895. The second Gembrook West School, No.4073, operated from 1921 until 1923. Finally, Gembrook South East, No. 3468, opened half time with Nar Nar Goon North in March 1904 and closed in December 1908. (P) (V) (W)

Gippsland
Named in honour of Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales from 1838-1846. The Cardinia Creek was the boundary between the Port Phillip District and Gippsland. Thus, the Central Hotel (on the Cardinia Creek) was at one time called the Gippsland Hotel. The Gippsland boundary is now considered by some to be the Bunyip River, I have written about this here. (B) (E) (W)

Grantville
Named for James Macpherson Grant (1822-1885) M.L.A., an early agitator for land reform. However, many references say the town was named for Lieutenant James Grant (1772-1833) of the Lady Nelson, the first commander to traverse Bass Strait from west to east. You can read about Lieutenant Grant, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (Adb) (B) (Bi) (Wh)

Grassmere
Grassmere was name of the 1,200 hectare (3,000 acre) property of Thomas Power, which was subdivided and sold in 1888. The land was on the east of the Dandenong Creek, essentially where Doveton is today. The area was still called Grassmere by locals until it was changed to Doveton in the 1950s. Captain and Mrs Doveton (see Doveton) also called their property Grassmere. Grasmere (sic) is the name of a village in Cumbria, England and comes from the Old English gres ‘grass’ and mere ‘lake’.  I have written about Grassmere, here. (Do) (O) (U)

Guys Hill
Named after a former storekeeper. It was initially known as Inebriates’ Hill after a home for male inebriates in the area. It was then known as Commins Hill after an early settler and then finally Guys Hill. (E) (W)

Hallam
Hallam is a relatively new name for this area, dating only form 1905. Before that, the district was known as Eumemmerring, then Hallam’s Road, named after William and Mary Hallam who moved to the area in 1856. The Hallam Valley School, No.4407, in Centre Road, was opened in 1929 to accommodate the children of a Closer Settlement Board subdivision. See also Eumemmerring.  (St) (V)

Hampton Park
Rate-payers in the area, which is now called Hampton Park, were listed variously as living in Eumemmerring, Dandenong or Lyndhurst. The area was locally known as Garner’s Paddock, after the owners, the Garner family of Dandenong. Hampton Park was subdivided in 1917-1918 and this subdivision was named the Hampton Park estate by the developer Edward Victor Jones. (G) (RB)

Harkaway
There are several theories as to the origin of the name. There was a famous English racehorse by the name in the 1830s. Another theory is that the word is a relic of the call to the dogs as the shepherds urged them to shift sheep from the densely wooded hills. Zion’s Hill was a name suggested by some settlers in the early 1860s but it lacked popular appeal. (E)

Harewood
The property owned by William and Annabella Lyall, on the South Gippsland Highway at Koo Wee Rup.  William Lyall claims he introduced hares into Victoria in c. 1858. In 1937, his daughter, Margaret Timms, wrote a letter to The Argus and noted that  - my father, the late William Lyall released hares on his property at Western Port in the year 1858. Mr Lyall was also a member of the Victorian Acclimatisation Society. The station property was named Harewood from that date. (The Argus, June 19, 1937, see here)

Harris Island
See Quail Island.

Hastings
Originally called Kings Creek after early land owner, Martha King (1790 -1860), read about her, here. There are two sources suggested for the name of Hastings. One is that is was named after Hastings, a coastal town in the south-east of England and the location of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It has also been suggested that it was named after the Marquis of Hastings, Francis Rawdon Hastings (1754 - 1826) who served with the British Army in the American Revolutionary Wars and was later Governor General of Bengal. (B) (J)

Heath Hill
Descriptive name, heath covered hill. The Heath Hill Railway Station opened June 29, 1922 and closed in August 1941. The Heath Hill State school, No. 3225, began life as Protector's Flat school in April 1895 at Lang Lang East. It was moved to Heath Hill in 1914 and its name changed to Heath Hill at the same time. The School name was changed again in 1951 when it became Yannathan South School. It closed around the 1980s. See also Yannathan. (B) (V)

Holt
Federal electorate which covers part of the Casey Cardinia region. Named after Harold Holt (1908 - 1967) Prime Minister of Australia. Mr Holt disappeared off Cheviot Beach, near Portsea, on December 17, 1967. You can read about Harold Holt, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Iona
Named after the Hebridean island off the Scottish coast. The isle of Iona was where Christianity was introduced into Scotland by Columba and his followers. The area was originally known as Bunyip South and officially became Iona in August 1905, after the name of the Post Office was changed to Iona. The Iona Riding of the Shire of Berwick was established in 1901. The Iona State School, No.3201, which is actually at Vervale, was known as Koo Wee Rup North when it opened in 1894, then Bunyip South and changed to Iona in October 1905. (I) (RB) (V) (W)

Iona name change

South Bourke and Mornington Journal July 26, 1905 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66143564

Island Road
Island Road is named because it becomes an island when the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp floods. Island Road School, No.3952, was opened in 1919 as Dalmore East. The name changed in 1935. (B) (V)

I.Y.U Station
I.Y U Station (sometimes called J.Y.U) was owned by Dr William Kerr Jamieson and established on the Toomuc Creek in 1838. David Mickle, local historian, quotes a reference to the I.Y.U Station from the Koo Wee Rup Sun of 8/11/1928, in a report about the destruction of the I.Y.U. homestead notes that ‘The name I.Y.U was the nearest approach to the pronunciation of the name by the Aborigines to the creek running through the estate’ (Mi) (W)

Jam Jerrup
From the Aboriginal words jham meaning ‘separated’ and jerrup meaning ‘friends.’ Also called Stockyard Point. An 1885 map at the State Library of Victoria calls the area Passage Point. View the map here. There is an interesting article in the Dandenong Journal of June 11, 1952, about the name Jam Jerrup, see here. (G) (Ha)

Junction Village
Residential area south of Cranbourne. Unsure of origin but based at the junction of the South Gippsland Highway and Ballarto Road. (M)

Kallista
From the Greek word meaning ‘beautiful’. The town was originally called South Sassafras. As the town grew there was agitation for a new name and a prize was offered for a suitable name. Kallista was suggested by a Miss Eastaugh and officially came into being on April 1, 1925, when a satin ribbon, stretched across the main road, was cut at a small ceremony. (B) (C)

Kilcunda
From the Aboriginal for an exclamation. (B)

Koala
A railway siding, used for sand, between Lang Lang and Nyora. Named for the native mammal. The siding was originally called Bank Box, established as early as 1914. Australian Glass Manufacturers established a plant there in the early 1950s and it was renamed A.G.M Siding. Read about the A.G.M plant in the Dandenong Journal, March 7, 1951 here. (L)

Koo Wee Rup
Aboriginal for ‘blackfish swimming’. The railway station at Koo Wee Rup was named Yallock when it opened in 1890 and it was renamed Koo Wee Rup in 1892. There have been five primary schools called Koo Wee Rup and ironically the original Koo Wee Rup State School, No.2629, was actually called Yallock, until 1903 when it was changed to Koo Wee Rup. The Cora Lynn State School, No. 3502, was known as Koo Wee Rup Central when it opened in January 1907 and changed its named to Cora Lynn in September of that year. The Modella State School, No.3456, was known as Koo Wee Rup East when it opened in January 1904. The Koo Wee Rup North State School, No.3198, at Five Mile, was initially called Koo Wee Rup South when it opened in July 1894. Finally, the Iona State School, No. 3201, was originally known as Koo Wee Rup North. See also Five Mile. (B) (Bo)(V)

Labertouche
Peter Paul Labertouche (1829 - 1907) was the Secretary to the Commissioner of Roads and Bridges from 1858 and later Secretary for Railways. Another suggested origin is that the town was named after Henry Labouchere, first and last Baron Taunton. Labouchere (1798-1869) was a Member of the House of Commons and held various government posts. (B) (Lo)

Lang Lang
The first store and hotel were built c.1867 by William Lyall and located on part of the Tobin Yallock (or Torbinurruck) squatting run on the junction of McDonald’s Track and the Grantville Road (as the South Gippsland Highway was then called). This store and hotel became the nucleus of the town of Lang Lang, as it was officially known, though the locals called it Tobin Yallock. Tobin Yallock would eventually have a church, a Post Office, Mechanics’ Institute and other stores. Its decline began with the coming of the railway when the station, originally called Carrington [see separate entry], was built east of Tobin Yallock. By about 1894 most of the businesses and public buildings had transferred to the new Lang Lang based around the railway station. There are two published meanings of Lang Lang. Blake says that the term Lang Lang comes from the Aboriginal word for ‘group of trees’. However, the VACL website states that Lang Lang is Aboriginal for ‘stones or stony’. See also Carrington, Nyora and Tobin Yallock. (B) (Bo) (G) (L) (VACL)

Langwarrin
Langwarrin was the original name of Pearcedale. When the Mornington and Stony Point railway lines opened in the late 1880s, the railway station near the Military Camp (now a Flora and Fauna Reserve) was named Langwarrin. A new town developed east of the railway station and was locally called New Langwarrin. The name comes from the squatting run called Lang Waring or Long Waring, leased by William Willoby from 1843. Blake says the name Long Waring comes from ‘long waiting’ as it took Willoby a long time to obtain his run. There have been three schools called Langwarrin. The Langwarrin Railway Station School, No.3023, was opened in 1890 on the corner of McClelland Road and Golf Links Road. The name changed to Mornington Junction in 1906 and finally to Baxter in 1919. It moved to the six cross-roads at Baxter in 1954. Langwarrin, No.3531, commenced in 1907, moved to Warrandyte Road in 1913 and was known as Langwarrin North until 1955, when the North was dropped. Finally, Langwarrin School, No.2961, opened in 1889 in what is modern day Pearcedale, closed in 1892, re-opened 1902 and in 1908 changed its name to Pearcedale. (B) (Sc) (V)

La Trobe
Federal electorate which covers part of the Casey Cardinia region. Named after Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801 - 1875), Governor of the Port Phillip District / Victoria from 1839 until 1854. You can read about La Trobe, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Lisbaun
Lisbaun State School, No.4196, was located on the St Germains property in McCormack’s Road in Clyde North. It operated from 1924 until 1937. Lisbaun is the name of a town in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. (B) (Ca) (V)

Loch
Named after Henry Brougham Loch (1827 - 1900), Governor of Victoria 1884 -1889. You can read about Loch, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (Adb) (B)

Longwarry
From the Aboriginal for ‘divided waterhole’. The name came from an early pastoral lease, called Longwarre. The area was earlier known as Fraser’s Siding after the siding created by Donald Fraser, a timber mill operator. (Bu) (Lo)

Lyall's Inlet, Western Port Bay
Named after William Lyall (1821-1888) owner of the nearby Harewood property. You can read about Lyall, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Lynbrook
Area originally part of Lyndhurst. Lynbrook was named a suburb by the State Government Pace and Names Committee in February 2001. (A)

Lyndhurst
Bald Hill was an early name for Lyndhurst. Bald Hill School, No.732, started in 1863 and closed in 1869. It reopened as Lyndhurst in 1873. Lyndhurst was named after John Singleton Copley, Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863). Lord Lyndhurst was the Lord Chancellor of England on three occasions between 1827-1846. Lyndhurst means ‘wooded hill growing with lime trees’, from Old English lind ‘lime tree’ and hyrst 'wooded hill’. See also Skye. (B) (G) (O) (V)

Lysterfield
Named after William Saurin Lyster (1828 - 1880) one of the early European selectors. Lyster donated land for the Lysterfield School, No.1866, in 1874. Lysterfield was originally regarded as part of Narre Warren and was then known by the descriptive name of The Flat. It was named in honour of Lyster in the mid-1870s. You can read about Lyster, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.(C) (V)

Macclesfield
The locality was said to be named by a miner called Stringer, after the town of Macclesfield in Cheshire, England. Macclesfield comes from a combination of the Old English personal name of Maccel and feld - open country, thus open country or field belonging to a man called Maccel.       (C) (O)

Maryknoll
Father Pooley, a Catholic Priest, established Maryknoll as a rural community based on the principles of religion, family life and co-operative enterprise. The first families moved to the 213 hectare (528 acre) site, at what was then Tynong North, in 1950.The settlement was known as St Mary’s until 1955 when the name was changed to Maryknoll to avoid confusion with other towns called St Mary’s. Maryknoll means Mary’s hill or knoll. (W)

McDonalds Track
In 1860, a track was developed between Tobin Yallock (Lang Lang) and Moe, over Mount Worth, with the aim of providing a stock route through to Sale. It is named after Victorian Government Assistant Surveyor, George Thomas McDonald (c. 1836 - 1915) who surveyed the track between 1860 and 1862. I have written about McDonalds Track, here. (L)

McGregors Road

Named for local land owner, Duncan MacGregor (1835-1916). Mr MacGregor purchased 3,871 acres of the Great Swamp run in March 1875 and called his property Dalmore. You will note that McGregors Road is spelt with with a Mc not an Mac. (Adb) (G)

McMillan
Former name of a Federal electorate which covers part of the Casey Cardinia region. Named after Angus McMillan (1810 - 1865) explorer and pastoralist in the Gippsland region. The Electorate is now called Monash.

Menzies Creek
Named after John Menzies, an early gold prospector who remained in the area long after other miners had left. The area was known as Aura by Robert H. Kerr, a local Councillor, during 1917- 1923. Aura is Irish for ‘beautiful’ and was the name of the Kerr property. (B) (C)

Modella
There are various theories as to the meaning of Modella. Blake says it is from the Aboriginal word for ‘strike you’. The name Modella was taken from Modella Park, a farm owned by James Douglas. One interpretation is that the name is a corruption of ‘model’ because Modella Park was a ‘model’ farm, and another theory is that is comes from the name of a famous racehorse of the time. The Modella School, No.3456, and the area itself, were initially known as Koo Wee Rup East. The School name changed in February 1905. (B) (Ut) (V)

Monash and Monash Freeway
Monash is the Federal Electorate formerly called McMillan. Named after Sir John Monash (1865- 1931) Engineer, General and Chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. He oversaw the erection of the Yallourn Power station. You can read about Monash, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (Adb)

Monbulk
There are two interpretations on the meaning of Monbulk. One is that it comes from the Aboriginal word monbolloc ‘hiding place in the hills’ or ‘sanctuary’. The other is that it comes from the word for ‘lake’. The Monbulk School, No.3265, was known as Dandenong Forest Village Settlement when it opened in 1897 but changed its name to Monbulk the next year. (C) (V) (VACL)

Monomeith
From the Aboriginal word for ‘pleasant or agreeable’. The town was named after the estate owned by John Mickle (1814-1885), which had originally been part of the Yallock run owned by Mickle and his partners John Bakewell (1807-1888) and William Lyall (1821-1888). The original name of the Monomeith Railway Station (opened February 1890) was Glasscock’s, named after George Glasscock who had purchased part of the Monomeith estate after Mickle’s death. (B) (Bo)

Moola
Moola was a town surveyed on the ‘Puffing Billy’ line between Wright and Cockatoo in 1913. It was never developed and was rescinded in 1952. Moola comes from the Aboriginal word for ‘shade’. I have written a  short history of the town, here.  (B) (Fid)

Moody's Inlet, Western Port Bay
Named after Christopher Moody (1833-1920) Koo Wee Rup land-owner and Cranbourne Shire Councillor. I have written about about Christopher Moody, here.

Mornington and County of Mornington
Named after Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley, second Earl of Mornington. Wellesley (1760 - 1842) was the Governor General of Bengal and later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The town was originally called Schnapper Point.(B) (J)

Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is the resting place of Noah’s Ark in the Bible. Three runs were registered on the Ararat Creek in 1844, a total of over 9,300 hectares (23,000 acres) The Mt Ararat No.1 was first leased by John Dore and Michael Hennessy; Mt Ararat No. 2 by John Watson, Edward Byham Wight and Richard Philpott; Mt Ararat Creek run by William Walsh. (B) (W)

Mount Burnett
Named after James Charles Burnett (1815 - 1854) who was a Surveyor under the Surveyor General, Sir Major Thomas Mitchell (1792 - 1855) You can read about James Charles Burnett, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (B)

Mount Cannibal
See Cannibal Creek. I have also written about the Mount Cannibal name here.  

Mount Carney
An early name for Mount Misery, named after early settler Mr Carney who lived at the base of the hill (E)

Mount Misery
Mount Misery was originally known as Mount Carney after an early settler, Mr Carney, who lived at the base of the hill. It was named Mount Misery ‘owing to the light nature of the soil, growing sparse herbage for grazing purposes’ (E)

Nangana
From Aboriginal ‘to compare or examine’. Nangana is also a Parish in the County of Evelyn. The Nangana Cemetery, just north of Emerald, was gazetted in February 1883. In April 1912, the Shire of Fern Tree Gully received correspondence from the Health Department notifying them that the name of the Cemetery had changed to Emerald Cemetery (even though it was still known colloquially as Nangana or Macclesfield or sometimes Avonsleigh Cemetery)  (B)

Name change of Nangana Cemetery.

Box Hill Reporter, April 12, 1912 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90368722

Nar Nar Goon
From the Aboriginal word for ‘native bear’ or koala. A correspondent to the Pakenham Gazette in December 1965, states that when he first arrived in Nar Nar Goon in about 1906 ‘the legend was that the natives said the place was ‘No No Good.’ This is not confirmed with any other sources. (B)

Narre Warren
There are three interpretations of the origin of Narre Warren. One definition is that it is a corruption of the Aboriginal words for ‘little hills’. Another definition is that it is a corruption of the Aboriginal words for ‘no good’ from the belief that the creek water was brackish and ‘no good’ for drinking. The VACL website suggests that it comes from the word meaning ‘red ochre’. Narre Warren originally referred to the township of Narre Warren North, which was surveyed around 1860. This was later known as Old Narre Warren to distinguish it from New Narre Warren which developed around the Railway Station. The name was used in the area as early as 1837 when the Native Police Force was established at Nerre Nerre Warren, this area later became an Aboriginal Protectorate to protect the Aborigines from the white settlers. It is now the Dandenong Police Paddocks Reserve. Narree Worran is a Parish name in the County of Mornington. (B) (C) (E) (Th) (VACL)

Newhaven
Named after a seaport in Sussex, England, which was named in 1587 and means ‘newly built harbour’. Newhaven on Cowes was originally called Woody Point (B) (O)

Nobelius Railway Station
A station on the Puffing Billy line. Carl Nobelius (1851 - 1921) established a very successful nursery at Emerald around 1892 and exported fruit trees all over the world. The nursery was called Gembrook Nurseries, due to its location in the Parish of Gembrook. The station was opened in 1926, though there had been an earlier siding to cater for the Nursery business. (C) (Fid)

Nyora
From the Aboriginal word for ‘wild cherry tree’. The area was originally known as Lang Lang East until the Great Southern Railway line went through from Dandenong to Port Albert, and the railway station built in the area was called Nyora. This line was opened as far as Lang Lang in February 1890 and it was opened to Nyora and Loch in November 1890. However, the actual township site had been proclaimed on December 23, 1886 and it was surveyed in 1887 by John Lardner an assistant survey on the Lands Department. (B)

Officer and Officedale
Named after the Officer family, early European settlers. The railway station was originally called Officer’s Wood Siding, due to the timber being cleared from the land and railed to Melbourne as firewood. Officer School, No.2742, was initially called Officers Siding, when it opened in 1886. The Officedale State School, No.4242, which operated intermittently from 1925 until 1951, was on the corner of Cardinia and Lecky Roads. It became part of Pakenham Consolidated School. (Fr) (V)

Pakenham
In the Wake of the Pack Tracks suggests Pakenham is named after Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham (1778 - 1815) who served with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War and was killed in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans.
Les Blake in Place Names of Victoria however suggests that Pakenham was named for ‘General Pakenham who served in the Crimean War’. This is Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham (1819 -1854) who was killed at Inkerman during the Crimean War. The Lieutenant-Colonel was the son of Sir Hercules Pakenham who was the brother of Major General Sir Edward Michael Pakenham.
A. W. Reed, Place Names of Australia, suggests that it was named for Catherine Pakenham, who was the wife of the Duke of Wellington. Catherine (1773 - 1831) married the Duke of Wellington in 1806. They had two sons, Arthur born in 1807 and Charles in 1808.
From Bullock Tracks to Bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick says it was named for ‘Rev Pakenham, a Dublin minister’. This is most likely the Very Reverend Henry Pakenham, who was Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin from 1843-1863.

Catherine and Henry were siblings of Sir Edward and Sir Hercules. Their father was the second Baron Longford. Blake also suggests that the area was once called Longford. Pakenham was originally based around the Princes Highway and Toomuc Creek and the town that developed around the Railway Station from 1877 was known as Pakenham East. It was still referred to as Pakenham East until the early 1970s. I believe (and some people disagree with me) the most likely candidate is Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham who was killed during the Crimean War as Victoria and Melbourne have other place names with a Crimean connection including the towns of St Arnaud and Sebastapol and the suburb of Balaclava. St Kilda has streets with a Crimean War connection - Inkerman Road, Crimea Street, Redan Street, Alma Road and Odessa Street. Clarendon Street, Codrington Street and Lyons Street in Cranbourne are also connected to Crimean War personalities. See my blog post on the origin of the name of Pakenham, here.  (B) (Fr) (Re) (W)

Pearcedale
The town was known as Langwarrin or Langwarrin Estate or Old Langwarrin until December 1905. A meeting of rate payers was held in November 1905 and it was voted to rename the town Pearcedale to avoid confusion with the new settlement based near the Langwarrin Railway Station. Pearcedale was named after Nathanial Pearce, an early European settler. Nathaniel and his wife Mary Grace (nee Hawke) are first listed in the Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books in 1894, when they purchased an orchard on 26 acres (about 10 hectares) at Langwarrin Estate. Mary Grace, was a midwife and helped deliver many babies in the area and she also had eight babies of her own. Nathaniel died February 9, 1918 at the age of 55 and Mary Grace died July 24, 1949 aged 88. They are both buried at the Frankston Cemetery. See also Langwarrin. (G) (Pe)

Phillip Island
Formerly called Snapper Island, then Grant Island (after Lieutenant James Grant). Captain Nicholas Baudin called it Ile des Anglais. Named for Captain Arthur Phillip (1738 - 1814) who came out with the First Fleet and was first Governor of New South Wales. You can read about Captain Phillip, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. (B)

Pioneer Bay
Presumably named to honour early Pioneers.

Poowong
From Aboriginal for carrion or putrefaction. (B)

Princes Highway
The Road was originally known as the Gippsland Road, but was changed in 1920, after the visit of Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII, then the Duke of Windsor. The Prince was born June 1894 and died May 1972; he is the uncle of Queen Elizabeth). The Princes Freeway took its name from the Highway. (Re)

Protector’s Plain and Protector’s Flat
Protector’s Plain was the name of State School No. 2899 which opened on the Westernport Road in 1888. The school community was re-located onto the current site in Lang Lang, with a new building and the new name of Lang Lang, in June 1891. Protector’s Flats was named after a camp used in the late 1830s and early 1840s by William Thomas, a Protector of Aborigines. Andrew Hudson held this land in the 1860s and 1870s and called his property Protector Park. See also Lang Lang. (G) (L)

Puffing Billy
The railway line between Ferntree Gully and Gembrook. Puffing Billy is an affectionate name for the ‘little trains’ that operated on the narrow-gauge line. Peter Cuffley says it was used as early as 1903 but became dominant in the 1950s when the campaign began to re-open the line after it was officially closed in 1954. (Cu) (Fid)

Quail Island, Western Port Bay
Name taken from the birds on the island. Originally called Harris Island, which was named during Lieutenant James Grant’s trip to Western Port Bay, in the Lady Nelson, in March 1801. Surgeon John Harris was a Magistrate and member of the New South Wales Corps. (Co) (T)

Queensferry
Named after Queen Victoria. (B)

Rhyll
Named after Rhyl on the north coast of Wales, and means ‘place by the hill’ (B) (O)

Ripplebrook
Descriptive name. The stream the name refers to is the Musk creek which flows past the Ripplebrook School house. Formerly called Longwarry South. (Bu)

Rowville
Named in 1903 after the Row family of Stamford Park, early European settlers. Frederick Row was a partner with the wool-brokers, Goldsborough, Row and Company, and is said to have been the first man to bring sparrows to Australia. The area was previously part of Lysterfield. (C)

Rutherford Inlet, Western Port Bay
Named for Thomas Rutherford. Rutherford took out the licence for the Bourbinandera run, of 1800 hectares (4480 acres) in 1842. (G)

Rythdale
A Soldier Settlement area, south of Pakenham, based around Soldier’s Road and Hobson’s Road. The School, No.4231, was known as McGregor’s Estate when it opened in 1924 and changed its name to Rythdale in September 1926. The School closed in September 1951 and the children went to Pakenham Consolidated School. Duncan McGregor was the owner of the 1,618 hectare (4,000 acre) estate Dalmore, part of which formed the Soldier Settlement subdivision. Blake says that Rythdale is a ‘coined word’. It was, however, the name of James Cuming’s 1,600 acre estate, which he purchased in 1904. The property is listed variously in newspaper reports as being on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp or Pakenham. Read more about the name of Rythdale here  
(B) (Ca) (V) (W)

San Remo
Formerly Griffiths Point, which was named after Van Diemen’s Land merchant John Griffiths, who sent wattle bark strippers to the area in 1835. From 1889 called San Remo after the Italian resort town. (B)

Sawtells Inlet, Western Port Bay
Named after Melbourne merchant, Edwin Sawtell (c. 1798 - 1892) in 1840. (B)

Scoresby
Named after the Reverend William. S. Scoresby (1789 - 1857).He was a Marine Surveyor who charted the coast of Greenland, was an authority on terrestrial magnetism and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He visited Australia in 1856 for a series of lectures. He died in Torquay in England on March 21,1857, the same year the Parish of Scoresby was surveyed. There is a short obituary in The Argus, June 8, 1857, see here. (C)

Selby
Selby had been regarded as part of Menzies Creek, until a new railway station was established on the Puffing Bully line in 1900. The Railway Commissioners named the station after George W. Selby, local Councillor and Chairman of the Gembrook Railway Trust. (C)

Sherbrooke
Named after the Canadian birthplace of one of the early settlers, R.W. Graham, a ‘leading spirit in the early settlement, who may be justly described as the father of Sherbrooke.’ (C)

Sherwood
The Robin Hood hotel was built at Sherwood about 1870 and the Sherwood State School, No.1993, operated from 1878 until 1882, on the southeast corner of Fisheries Road and Tooradin-Baxter Road. Sherwood is the name of a Parish in the County of Mornington and was also the original name of the Tooradin Railway Station. Sherwood Forest is the home of the legendary Robin Hood. See also Ballarto Road. (Bo) (G) (V)

Skye
Skye changed its name to Lyndhurst South in 1894 after a murder brought unwelcome attention to the area. It changed back to Skye in 1964. Many of the early settlers had come from the Isle of Skye, an island off the north-west coast of Scotland. See also Lyndhurst (B) (G) (Mo)

Somerville
Named for Sir William Meredyth Somerville (1802-1873), Chief Secretary of Ireland, 1847-1852. (J)

Tenby Point
Named after Tenby in Wales in 1840 by James Cuthbert, an early settler. (Bi)

The Gurdies
Named after the Hurdy Gurdy run, first leased by John Thom in 1838 (B) (BK)

The Patch
Isaac Simmons, a timber worker, cut down a patch of trees in the 1880s. When settlers returned to the bush ten years later, they found a ‘patch’ of grass growing on the site, which became a camping spot until they were able to clear their own land. (C)

Thompson's Road, Shire of Cranbourne
Thompson's Road runs from Patterson Lakes, through Carrum Downs, Cranbourne and Clyde nearly to the Cardinia Creek, so essentially all the way west to east across the old Shire of Cranbourne. It was named for Patrick Thompson, early land owner and member of the Cranbourne Road Board from 1860 - 1863. I have written about him, here. (A) (G)

Tobin Yallock
For a history of Tobin Yallock, see Lang Lang entry. There are various possible meanings for Tobin Yallock. Blake says that Tobin Yallock (sometimes written as Torbinurruck) comes from the Aboriginal toorberneen ‘stars’ and yallock ‘water’. Butler says that Tobin Yallock is Aboriginal for ‘bird’s wing’. VACL website defines Yallock as meaning ‘creek, stream or river’. (B) (Bu) (VACL)

Tonimbuk
From the Aboriginal word for ‘to scorch or burn’. VACL website defines it as ‘burn or cook’. Tonimbuk State School, No. 3363, opened on July 1, 1900, it closed in January 1906, re-opened September 1910 and closed in 1947. (B) (V) (VACL)

Toomuc Creek
From the Aboriginal word timuk‘ preparing animal hides for bag or cloak’. Toomuc Valley School, No.3034, was called Pakenham North when it opened in 1890. It operated intermittently and in 1914 changed its name to Toomuc Valley and closed in 1951 and became part of Pakenham Consolidated School. (B) (V)

Tooradin
From the Aboriginal word too-roo-dun ‘swamp monster’ or ‘bunyip’. The Tooradin (initially spelt Toorodan) run was taken up Frederick and Charles Manton in 1840. (B) (G)

Troup’s Creek and Troup’s Flat
John Troup (c. 1827 - 1899) owned a property in Narre Warren North and was elected to the Berwick District Road Board in 1862. The creeks were man-made and part of an effort to drain the low-lying flats. (Ste)

Tynong
From the Aboriginal word for ‘plenty of fish’ Tynong State School, No. 2854, opened in the Mechanic's Institute in August 1887. It closed in 1892 and then re-opened in the Tynong Hall in May 1905. In 1908 the School moved onto its own site into a building relocated from Cardinia School, No. 2139. This building was replaced in 1915 and the School was closed in April 1951 and the students went to Pakenham Consolidated School. This was also the fate of the Tynong North School which opened in June 1930 and closed in December 1951 (B) (V)

Ventnor
Named after Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight. The Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names says it means ‘Farm of Vintner’ probably a manorial name from a family called le Vyntener. (B) (O)

Vervale
Vervale probably means ‘green valley’. A General Store and Post Office, later to be known as the Vervale Store, was established in 1907 by John Kirwan, on the south of the Main Drain, and west side of Thirteen Mile Road. His address was listed variously as ‘via Garfield’ or Iona. In September 1917, The Post Master Generals Department approved the change of name of the Post Office from Kirwan's to Vervale.  The name was then adopted for the surrounding area which had previously had various other names. It was sometimes referred to as Kirwans; however, the Shire of Berwick Rate Books listed ratepayers in the area with the address of either Cora Lynn or Iona. From the 1917 Rate books the name changed to Vervale, which was first written as Vere Vale.  I have written about this in more detail here https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/vervale.html (B) (RB)

Warneet
From the Aboriginal word for ‘river’. The first land sales at Warneet were held in the 1930s. The area was originally known as Crouch’s Beach. See also Crouch’s Beach. (B) (Ba)

Warneet was also the original named for the Topiram Railway Station on the Koo wee Rup to Strzelecki Railway line. It was known as Warneet during construction, but named Topiram when opened for traffic.(Ra).

Watson Inlet, Western Port
Named after John Watson, whose property Freehall, was near to the Inlet. John Watson was the owner of considerable property in the Parish of Tyabb, a prominent citizen and a member of the Mt. Eliza District Road Board. A Mornington Peninsula Shire Council Ward is named after him. (Personal correspondence from historian, Valda Cole)

Western Port Bay - more correctly known as Western Port
Named by explorer George Bass (1771-1803) on January 5th, 1798, because of ‘its relative situation to every other known harbour on the coast’ (Co)

Wright Railway Station and Wright Forest
The Puffing Billy station, opened 1904, was named after the operators of the near-by guesthouse Avonsleigh House, John and Anna Wright. The station was established in 1904 to accommodate the guests. See also Avonsleigh. (Fid)

Yallock
From the Aboriginal word for ‘creek stream or river’. Yallock was the original name of the Koo Wee Rup Railway Station. There have been two schools called Yallock. The first, No. 2629, opened on the corner of Bayles Road and Bethune’s Road in 1884, changed its name to Koo Wee Rup in 1903 and was moved into the town of Koo Wee Rup in 1911. The second school, No.3420, started in 1902 as the Yallock Village Settlement School and later changed its name to Yallock. The Yallock Village Settlement was based around Finck’s, School, Hall and O'Brien’s Road off Koo Wee Rup-Longwarry Road. The Bayles Railway Station, which opened in 1922, was the station closest to Yallock. (B) (Bo) (V)

Yannathan
From the Aboriginal word to ‘to walk about’. There have been four schools called Yannathan. Yannathan, No.2422, opened in 1883. Yannathan Upper, No.2492, began its life as Lang Lang North in 1883, changed its name to Yannathan Upper in 1906 and closed in 1912. Yannathan South, No.2510, operated between 1882 and 1890. In 1895 Protector’s Flat School, No.3225, opened at Lang Lang East, it was relocated in 1914 to a more central site, and became known as Heath Hill and then changed its name again in 1951 and became Yannathan South. The Yannathan Railway Station opened June 29, 1922 and closed April 1950. (B) (V)

Yellingbo
The township of Yellingo was gazetted in March 1896 however, Helen Coulson, said the area was originally called Claxton, then Parslow’s Bridge. J. Claxton operated a store, Post Office and a wine saloon near the Woori Yallock creek. When Claxton’s daughter and her husband took over the store, the area became known as Parslow’s or Parslow’s Bridge. Helen Coulson says in her book, published in 1959, that 'in recent times' the area became known as Yellingbo after the last Aboriginal known to have frequented the area, however the evidence suggests that the name was in use for much longer than that. This is another example of the fluidity of town names in the early days of European settlement. Yellingbo means ‘today’ or ‘this day’ (B) (C)


References
A        Material held in the Casey Cardinia Libraries Archive
Adb    Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/
B        Blake, Les Place Names of Victoria (Rigby, 1977)
Ba      Banks, Peggy Crouch’s Beach: from camp to Coastal Village, Warneet (P. Banks, 1993)
Bi       Bird, Eric Place names on the coast of Victoria. Access this here.
BK     Billis, R. V & Kenyon, A.S Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip (Stockland Press, 1974)
Bo      Bowden, Keith Macrae The Great Southern Railway Line: an illustrated history of the building of the line in South Gippsland (Australian Railway Historical Society, 1970
Bow   Exchanging one country for another: A history of David and Janet Bowman and family in Port Phillip/Victoria from 1840 (Published for a reunion of their descendants in 1988)
Bu     Butler, Graeme Buln Buln: a history of the Buln Buln Shire (Shire of Buln Buln, 1979)

C       Coulson, Helen Story of the Dandenongs 1838-1958 (F.W Cheshire, 1959)
Ca     Williams, Eileen & Beard, Jewel Look to the rising sun: a history of Cardinia and District including Rythdale and Pakenham South (Back to Cardinia Committee, 1984)
Cl     Campbell, John A. Clyde history: Public Hall and Mechanics’ Institute Jubilee (Clyde Public Hall Committee, 1978)

Cly    A Clyde History website https://www.earlyhistory4clydevic.com/
Co     Cole, Valda Western Port Chronology, 1798-1839: exploration to settlement (Shire of Hastings Historical Society, 1984)
Cu     Cuffley, Peter That little train: the Puffing Billy railway, 1900-1953 (Five Mile Press, 1987) 
Cut    Cutter, June Churchill Island: a special place (Friends of Churchill Island, 1994)

D       From information provided by Des Dineen, held by Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society.
Da     Memoirs of Dalyston and District complied by Alan Carmichael (no publisher listed, 1973)
Do     Harding, Maria Doveton: a brief history (Friends of Doveton Library, 1993)
E       Early days of Berwick and its surrounding districts (Berwick & District Agricultural and Horticultural Society, 3rd edition, 1979)
Fi      Fiddian, Mark Through the Field Glasses: a history of the Pakenham Racing Club (Pakenham Racing Club, 1985)
Fid     Fiddian, Mark Potatoes, passengers and prosperity: a history of Puffing Billy’s railway (Fiddian, 1978)
Fr      From Bullock tracks to bitumen: a brief history of the Shire of Berwick (Historical Society of Berwick Shire, 1962)
G       Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Shire of Cranbourne, 1968)

Gar   Cannibal Creek to Garfield: a history of Garfield Primary school, No. 2724, 1886-1986, published by the Centenary Committee.

Ha     Hartnell, Ross Pack-tracks to pastures: a history of the Poowong district (Poowong Centenary Committee, 1974)
He     Heritage of the City of Berwick: identifying and caring for important places Report prepared by Context Pty Ltd. (City of Berwick, 1993)
Ho     Hooper, Fred Into the dawn of a new day, 1968-1988, Shire of Cranbourne (Shire of Cranbourne, 1988)
Hor    Horton, Thomas & Morris, Kenneth The Andersons of Western Port (Bass Valley Historical Society, 1983)
Hu     Hughes, Tony Two Rivers Run: the story of Gippsland’s first Pioneer settler, Samuel Anderson (The Author, 2020)
I         Smith, Damian St Joseph’s Iona, 1905-2005: 100 years of a Catholic faith community (St Josephs, 2005)
J         Jones, Michael Frankston: Resort to City (Allen & Unwin, 1989)

L        Coghlan, Barbara Protector’s Plains: history of Lang Lang Primary School No.2899, 1888- 1988 and district (C.B.C Publishing, 1988)
Lo       McDermid, Joyce & Clarrie Level Crossing -Fraser Siding: Longwarry 1878-1978 (Longwarry Centenary Committee, 1978)
M        Melway Street Directories. Various editions from 6th edition, 1973 onwards. (Melway Publishing Company)
Mi      Mickle, David J More Mickle memories of Koo-Wee-Rup, Volume 2 (D.J Mickle, 1987)
Mo     Morrison, Dot 100 years in Skye 1850-1950 (Mornington Peninsula Family History Society, 2004)
O        Mills, A.D A dictionary of British Place names (Oxford University Press, 2003)
P         Parker, Genseric Forest to farming: Gembrook, an early history (JDP Consultancy, 1995)
Pe       Pearcedale: moments in history (Pearcedale Public Hall Committee, 2003)
Pet      Peters, Nell Corinella as I remember it (Published by the author, 2003)

R        Rawson, Joy The history of Devon Meadows Primary School and the community which supports it (Devon Meadows Primary School, 1982)

Ra    Ramsay, Merilyn   Steam to Strzelecki : the Koo-Wee-Rup to McDonald’s Track Railway. (Australian Railway Historical Society, 1991)
Re      Reed, A.W. Place names of Australia (A.H &A.W Reed, 1973)
RB     Shire of Berwick and Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books, held by Casey Cardinia Libraries
Sc      Scott, Roy The early history of Langwarrin (R.Scott, 1966)
St       Stephan, Deborah Hallam 1830-1930 (City of Berwick, 1993)
Ste     Stephan, Deborah Place names of Berwick (City of Casey, 1994)

T        Wells, John &‘Tooradin celebrate together’ committee Tooradin : 125 years of coastal history, Blind Bight, Cannon’s Creek, Sherwood, Tooradin North, Warneet : 1875-2000 State School No.1503 (‘Tooradin celebrates together 125 years of Education’ committee, 2000) Sections of this book were originally published in Tooradin: a history of a sportsman's paradise and the first 100 years of State School No. 1503 compiled by D.J. Mickle and the Tooradin "Back to" Committee (D.J Mickle, 1975)
Th     Thomson, Max Little Hills 1839-1977 (Narre Warren North State School No.1901 Centenary committee, 1977)
U      Uhl, Jean Call back yesterday: Eumemmerring Parish (Lowden Publishing, 1972)
Ut     Utber, Graham Modella: a brief history, 1904-1968 (G.Utber, 1968)
V      Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria edited by Les Blake (Education Department of Victoria, 1973)
VACL Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages website. The database of place names is no longer available on line.

W     In the wake of the Pack tracks: a history of the Shire of Berwick (Berwick Pakenham Historical Society, 1982)
Wa    Watson, Angus B Lost and almost forgotten towns of Colonial Victoria : a comprehensive analysis of Census results for Victoria 1841-1901 (A.B Watson, 2003)
We     Weatherhead, Lal The early settlement of North Tynong (L.Weatherhead, 1991)
Wh    White, Joseph One hundred years of History: Shire of Phillip Island & Woolamai 1875- 1928, Shire of Bass 1928-1975 (Shires of Bass and Phillip Island, 1974)
Wi      Wilson, Charles W. Upper Beaconsfield: an early history (The Author & the Upper Beaconsfield Association, 2013)

Mrs Edgar Walker of Pen Bryn, Beaconsfield Upper

On December 27, 1904, this postcard was sent from Torquay, in England,  to Mrs Edgar Walker, Pen Bryn, Beaconsfield Upper. It is a delightful postcard -  a self-portrait of Elisabeth Lebrun. Elisabeth (1755 - 1842) was  a popular French portrait artist who painted Marie Antionette over 20 times.

The card reads - Torquay 1st January 1905 - "A bright and Happy New Year to you" -

the initials appear to be FMW.

So who is Mrs Edgar Walker and what is Pen Bryn? We will start with Pen Bryn (Welsh for top of the hill) - it is the name of a house in Beaconsfield Upper. The original building on the site was  Beaconsfield House which was built by William Brisbane (1842 - 1910) in 1877, on the highest point in the town on what was to become St Georges Parade and Salisbury Road (1).  Most of the building was destroyed by fire on the night of May 30, 1893 (2).  Beaconsfield House was where the journalist, The Vagabond, based himself when he visited and wrote about Beaconsfield Upper in 1885, you can read his account in The Argus of November 28, 1885, here.

In 1902, David John Davies Bevan (1873 - 1954) built  Pen Bryn on the site of Beaconsfield House. (3).  David Bevan was a barrister and was appointed as a judge in the Northern Territory in May 1912; he held the position until September 1920 (4). On May 8, 1924 he was married at Pen Bryn to Doris Reed, the daughter of Joseph Reed, Victoria's Surveyor General (5) and they had two children, John and Doreen (6).   

David was the son of the Reverend Doctor Llewellyn David Bevan (1842 - 1918) and his wife Louisa Jane (nee Willett, 1844 - 1933).  Llewellyn, born in Wales, was a Congregational Minister, who had arrived with his family in Melbourne in 1886, to take up an appointment at the Independent Church in Collins Street. Dr Niel Gunson, who wrote Reverend Bevan's Australian Dictionary of Biography entry (read it here) said that he was a leader of Protestant intellectual life in Melbourne. The entry also includes information on Louisa.

Louisa was just as interesting, she wrote and illustrated hymns and was also involved in the National Council of Women (7). The National Council of  Women in Victoria was formed in November 1901 at Clivenden in East Melbourne, the home of Janet Lady Clarke. Louisa Bevan was a foundation member and Vice President in 1903 to 1905 (8).  There was an interesting report of the founding of this branch in the Arena on November 28, 1901, you can read it here.  Amongst other things the article tells us what the women were wearing -  Mrs Bevan was a most picturesque figure in black with Maltese lace draping her head and soldiers (9).  It's a shame it didn't actually tell us what the aims and activities of the Council were, but they included the education and health of women and the suffrage issue.  Two of the early issues the Council advocated for  were prison reform including the provision of female warders (or 'police matrons' as they called them) in lock-ups and the establishment of an Epileptic Colony (10).

In 1904 when Mrs Bevan was Vice-President, Evelyn Gough was the International Secretary. Evelyn Gough (1854 - 1931) has an indirect connection to the Beaconsfield Upper area in that her daughter, Doris, married Merric Boyd, the potter. Merric was the son of Arthur Merric Boyd (1862 - 1940) and Emma Minnie A'Beckett (1858 - 1936). Emma was the daughter of William Arthur Callander A'Beckett, M.L.C., J.P. (1833-1901) and his wife Emma Mills (1838 - 1906) who built The Grange at Harkaway, the town next to Beaconsfield Upper (11).

Back to the Bevans  - Llewellyn and Louisa had eight children - the aforementioned  David, who built Pen Byrn and  Hopkin Llewellyn Willett (1871 - 1933), Louis Rhys Oxley (1874 - 1946), Penry Vaughan (1875 - 1913), Muriel Eliza Marienne (1876 - 1955), Hester Gwladys (1877 - 1968), Sibyl Ceredwyn (1879 - 1962)  and an adopted daughter Dorothy Leigh Wilkins (1893 - 1970). (12)

The Bevan family in 1909.

Image: Upper Beaconsfield: an early history by Charles W. Wilson (Upper Beaconsfield Association, 2013)

It is Muriel who is the Mrs Edgar Walker to whom the postcard is addressed. Muriel  married Edgar William Walker (1879 - 1942) on  December 4, 1901. The service was conducted by her father, at the Independent  Church in Collins Street. Hester, Sibyl and Dorothy were the bridesmaids and Mrs. Bevan broke tradition by adopting the unusual practice of giving her daughter away. The bride wore ivory crepe de chine, set off with a very handsome train of silvery brocade (13). You can read reports of the wedding here and here.  

Charles Wilson, in his book Upper Beaconsfield: an early history says that Louisa Bevan took up residence at Pen Bryn after her husband died in 1918 and lived there until her death in 1933 (14).  David and his wife Doris lived at Calembeen, the Reed family home, which is also in Upper Beaconsfield (15). As the  postcard was addressed to Muriel at Pen Bryn in late 1904, it appears that she and Edgar were living there. They are listed in the 1905 Electoral Rolls at Beaconsfield Upper, but by 1909 they had moved to Camberwell. The couple had three children - Janet, David and Lois (16).

In 1954, 42 acres of the Bevan property was sold, leaving Pen Bryn on 8 acres. Pen Bryn was sold out of the Bevan family in 1960 (17).

Acknowledgement - The lovely post card was given to me by my postcard collecting friend, Isaac Hermann.

Footnotes
(1) Wilson, Charles Upper Beaconsfield: an early history by Charles W. Wilson (Upper Beaconsfield Association, 2013), p. 96.

(2) Ibid

(3) Wilson, op. cit., p. 97.

(4) Appointment - The Argus, April 29, 1912, see here; Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, May 11 1912, see here. Termination: The Argus, December 15, 1920, see here.
(5) Marriage notice The Argus, June 14, 1924, see here. Doris' father - Joseph Martin Reed was appointed the Surveyor General in 1899. You can read his life in this article in the Weekly Times, August 19, 1899, here and his obituary in the Korumburra Great Southern Advocate of June 30, 1932, here.
(6) Children John and Doreen are listed in his death notice in The Age, October 4, 1954, see here.

(7) Gunson, Niel Bevan, Llewelyn David (1842–1918), Australian Dictionary of Biography, see here.

(8) Another account of the formation can be read in The Age, November 22 1901,see  here. Mrs Bevan's resignation The Age, February 17, 1905, see here. 

(9) Arena, November 28, 1901, see here.

(10) The Australasian, December 19 1903, see here; Weekly Times, May 7 1904, see here.

(11) Evelyn Anna Walker Gough (nee Rigg) -  married Thomas Bunbury Gough in 1873; read her obituary in The Herald, January 9, 1932, here. Arthur Merric Boyd, read his Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) entry, here, the entry also includes information about his wife, Emma A'Beckett. William Arthur Callander A'Beckett, read his ADB entry, here.

(12) The information on the Bevan family comes mainly from Marianne Rocke's Residents of Upper Beaconsfield website https://upperbeaconsfieldhistory.au/

(13) Arena, December 12, 1901, see here.

(14) Wilson, op. cit., p. 97,

(15) Ibid

(16) Muriel's death notice - The Argus, October 3, 1955, see here.

(17) Wilson, op. cit.,p, 97.

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

McDonalds Track - from Tobin Yallock to Morwell

 McDonalds Track originally went from the Tobin Yallock Bridge (where the South Gippsland Highway crosses the Lang Lang River) to Morwell. It followed the ridges of the Strzelecki Ranges and was about seventy miles (about 110kms) in length. You can see the start of the track as it is the first turn-off into Lang Lang on the Highway coming from Koo Wee Rup, then it went to Nyora and Poowong. Remnants of the track are still named on maps, around Poowong East, Mount Worth (the highest point of the original track); then there is another section around Childers, Thorpdale and Narracan.

The track was surveyed by Assistant-Surveyor George Thomas McDonald. He started in 1860 and it was finished in 1862. It was hoped that the track would provide an alternate route for stock to get from Gippsland to Melbourne.

Map of McDonalds Track. 

Source: Pack Tracks to Pastures: a history of Poowong District by Ross Hartnell (Poowong Centenary Committee, 1974)

The Argus of January 1, 1863 (1) published a report from George McDonald of his progress and it makes interesting reading -

ROAD TO GIPPS LAND.
(FROM THE PUBLIC LANDS CIRCULAR, DEC. 27.)
The accompanying report has been received from Mr. Assistant-Surveyor McDonald, of the progress he has made with his survey of a road to Gipps Land, from Yallock to Morwell.

 Survey Camp. Yallock,
4th December, 1862.

Sir, I have the honour to forward here with a plan of my survey for a new line of road from Melbourne to Gipps Land, viá Cranbourne and Yallock, which I propose shall diverge from the Lower Gipps Land road at Tobin Yallock bridge and join upon the upper road at the Morwell bridge.

In compliance with your instructions, I made it my duty to keep along the Dividíng Range-a task of great difficulty, on account of the irregularity of the country and of the density of the scrub. I have nevertheless succeeded in accomplishing it; and am most happy to state that, with the exception of a few places, an excellent road may, when cleared, be had to Gipps Land.

The range, as you will observe on this plan, is crooked, yet the distance is very little in excess of that by the Fern-tree Gullies, while in every other respect this road will be infinitely superior, as there are no creeks to cross, consequently no bridges will be required. The ground is almost all good and firm, so that travelling may be performed with safety and comfort at all seasons of the year.

The cost of clearing will be the chief item of expenditure, but that, together with the expense of making a few side cuttings at the places indicated below, should not exceed £10,000. Indeed, for that sum I consider that a thoroughly good road, one chain wide, could be made, which would be practicable for travelling day or night. I specify a road of a chain wide because the ridge for a large proportion of the distance would not admit of one wider, and in one or two places it cannot without levelling be made wider than forty five or fifty feet.

One of the greatest objections by the public to this road will be the scarcity of feed for stock, there being a length of nearly fifty miles in which the only herbage to be obtained is ferns, sword-grass, and a small quantity of creeping grass, which last in some places climbs from bush to bush, making travelling very painful work to the pedestrian. Even were the grass plentiful, the density of the scrub would prevent advantage being taken of it. But as the soil is generally good, I have little doubt that in the course of time hotel keepers along the road will clear and sow paddocks with grass for the accommodation of themselves and others.

Although no creeks are crossed by the road, yet there are few points of it at which water cannot be obtained at all seasons of the year, by clearing a short distance to the creeks on either side,  [Here follows a list of points at which improvements are suggested, plan of which can be seen in the Board of Land and Works office.]

I have now seen a large portion of this country, and find a great similarity in it. Everywhere the scrub prevails, so that no view of any extent can be obtained, not even from the highest hills. Nature generally presents her shady side in this district, as the face of the sun is generally veiled by the scrub. Indeed, during the few days I was engaged in the open country at the Morwell, I found the glare most oppressive, and was glad to get back to the scrub again.

Bush fires have destroyed a large quantity of the timber, which now looms round on every side like huge gaunt skeletons. The look is not the worst, however, as branches are constantly dropping with a force considerably increased by a fall of two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet. At one of my camping places a limb fell upon the mess tent, and almost frightened the life out of the men in the adjoining tent. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

During the winter and after a heavy fall of rain the earth loosens at the roots of the dead trees, when large numbers of them fall with a crash, which at a distance resembles the sound of a cannon. Several times after storms I have been obliged to send back men to clear the logs from the track, and the carter invariably carries an axe when going for stores.

I observed only one place which appeared to have escaped the fires, and there the timber attained a magnificent size, the scrub also was large in proportion and tolerably open but I have invariably found where the timber was dead the scrub was dense, and the converse.

I have met with no surface indication of gold; but at a creek during my return from the Morwell one of the men made shift to wash two pannikinfuls of earth from the bed of the creek, in the lid of the ' billy,' and found a large percentage of black sand; indeed, I thought he had got several specks of gold, which on close examination proved to be unfounded. 

As tin ore, or black sand, as it is generally called, is frequently found in conjunction with gold, and by experienced miners is considered a good indication of that metal, gold may yet be found when more perfect appliances and greater care are brought to bear upon the search for it. A short distance lower down the same creek I found a quantity of lignite. 

At a point marked on the plan, where a tree had been blown down, exposing part of the rock, I found a vein of soft earthy coal about three inches thick, and fourteen inches wide, besides three or four smaller veins about half an inch in thickness. I put one of my men to clear off the débris, but made no further discovery. 

The scenery in many of the gullies is of a most charming description, and were it not for the difficulties of access, would well reward some of our distinguished artists for visiting. I trust, however, that the time is not far distant when they may do so with ease. The immense quantities of fern-trees, with the innumerable forms and shades of the gums, lightwoods, wattles, musk, hoyles, and various other small shrubs, together with the gracefully tapering form of the sassafras, combine to form scenes of the most enchanting beauty, the description of which is utterly beyond the power of pen or pencil.

I beg to state that I have the black sand, also specimens of the coal and lignite, and trust shortly to have the honour of submitting them for your examination.

I have the honour to be, sir,

Your most obedient servant,
George T. McDonald.

C. W. Ligar, Surveyor-General.

The McDonald's Track was a surveying and logistical feat as all the supplies had to be transported from Cranbourne, the vegetation was often impenetrable and the terrain was difficult.(2). Sadly for George McDonald his hopes of the route becoming a major road never eventuated, apparently due to the fact that there were no permanent water holes along the route (3), and thus no hotel keepers ever came to provide accommodation and hospitality. It was from the start a seven foot wide 'dray track' straddling the survey line was constructed to within approximately four and half miles of Mt Worth - the highest point on the route. From there it narrowed considerably (4). The 'Dray Track' can be seen on the map. above.  Due to the lack of use, the vegetation began to re-grow and an early account of the track likened it to  a tunnel due to the dense vegetation -  The sight which met the eyes of the pioneer selector when he approached the western fringe of the hazel scrub on McDonalds track was that of a narrow, winding, darkened lane or tunnel about seven feet in width, curving to the right and left to avoid the huge gum trees (5).

It was about 1874 that settlers began selecting land along the McDonalds Track around Poowong, and, by then, the reports were that the track was completely overgrown. Later settlers branched out from there to Poowong East and Poowong North. This area was also opened up by the establishment of a coach track from Poowong to Drouin (the Dray Track) after the Gippsland Railway was opened in 1878 (6). 

The Track saw the establishment of  a small town, Tobin Yallock, where it commenced at the Lang Lang River. The first store and hotel were built c.1867 by William Lyall and located on part of the Tobin Yallock (or Torbinurruck) squatting run on the junction of McDonald’s Track and what is now called the South Gippsland Highway. This store and hotel became the nucleus of the town of Lang Lang, as it was officially known, though the locals called it Tobin Yallock. Tobin Yallock would eventually have a church, a Post Office, Mechanics’ Institute and other stores. Its decline began with the coming of the railway when the station, called Carrington (later known as Lang Lang), was built east of Tobin Yallock, in February 1890. By about 1894 most of the businesses and public buildings had transferred to the new Lang Lang based around the railway station. (7).

What do we know of George Thomas McDonald? He came from Dumfries in Scotland (8). According to the State Government Gazette he was employed in the Lands and Survey Office in August 1857 and was there until about 1879.  

George McDonald's appointment as Assistant Surveyor

Victoria Government Gazette February 26, 1867 http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1867/V/general/23.pdf

On November 24, 1869 he married Amelia Margaret Mitchell at her parents house in Barfold, near Kyneton. He was 34 and she was 24 years old. George was listed on the marriage certificate as being the son of James and Isabella (nee Bustard) McDonald and Amelia was the daughter of William Henry Fancourt and Christina (nee Templeton) Mitchell. W.H.F. Mitchell was a member of the Legislative Council. You can read his entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here.

Marriage notice of George McDonald and Amelia Mitchell

The Herald, November 27 1869 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244905427 

The couple had eight children - Isabel (born 1871), William (1873), Christina (1875 - 1883),  James (1877), Allan (1878),  Thomas (1880 - 1881), George (1882) and Sidney (1885).  The first five were born in Victoria and the last three were born in Queensland (9).

In spite of giving birth to eight children in 14 years, Amelia lived to the ripe old age of 94 and died in Brisbane in 1939. I have the impression that Amelia McDonald was a ‘good catch’ and perhaps George ‘married up’ as they used to say. Certainly in the report of her death in The Argus on July 25, 1939 (reproduced below) there is no mention her husband, only her illustrious father.

The obituary of Amelia Mitchell. She actually had eight children, not five.

The Argus July 25 1939 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11261028

As the obituary of her mother states their daughter, Isabel, married Brigadier-General Cecil Foott. You can read entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. Foott was born in Bourke in New South Wales and had a distinguished military career and retired to Beaconsfield Upper where he died in June 1942. Brigadier General Foott is buried in the Berwick Cemetery. He was in an unmarked grave until 2015 when the Narre Warren & District Family History Group discovered this whilst they were doing research into the World War One soldiers buried at the cemetery. The Family History Group, in conjunction with the R.S.L, unveiled a headstone on his grave on April 11, 2015.

George McDonald's death notice

Brisbane Courier February 3, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20011783

Another death notice, with some different details.

The Australasian, February 13, 1915 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142968107

Back to George Thomas McDonald - he died on January 29, 1915 aged 79. His death notice listed his address as ‘late of Rocklea and Gladstone districts’.  I can't find an obituary of him. I feel that he is a forgotten man in the history of Victoria, but now every time you drive past McDonalds Track on the way down to Phillip Island or South Gippsland, then you will know a bit about the man behind the name.

Footnotes
(1) The Argus, January 1, 1863, see here.

(2) Hartnell, Ross Pack Tracks to Pastures: a history of Poowong District (Poowong Centenary Committee, 1974), p. 9
(3) Ibid

(4) Ibid
(5) Hartnell, op. cit.,p. 27
(6) Hartnell, op.cit., passim. I have written about the Gippsland Railway line, here.

(7) Gunson, Niel The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire (Cheshire, 1968), p. 111, 167-168. I have written about the South Gippsland Railway line here.

(8) Marriage Certificate
(9) More details on the children - information from the Victorian and Queensland Indexes to Births, deaths and marriages and family notices newspapers.
Isabel Agnes McDonald - born 1871 at Castlemaine, married Captain Cecil Henry Foott in 1901, died December 1926 in Queensland. Read her obituary in the Brisbane Telegraph, December 30 1926, here.
William Alexander Fancourt McDonald - born 1873 at The Lodden. Died January 1952 at Gladstone, QLD.
Christina Annie McDonald - born 1875 at The Lodden. Died January 1883 in Queensland.
James Edward Fancourt McDonald - born 1877 at Castlemaine. He was a Doctor. Died May 1954 in Toowoomba, QLD.
Allan Robert Fancourt McDonald - born 1878 at Castlemaine. Died October 1939 in Townsville, QLD.
Thomas Herbert Fancourt McDonald - July 1880 - April 1881, born and died in Queensland.
George Fancourt McDonald - born September 1882 in Queensland. Enlisted May 1915 and Died of Wounds in France March 22, 1918.
Sidney Fancourt McDonald - November 1885 in Queensland. He was a Doctor. Died August 1947 in Brisbane.

                                                                                                              

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

Australian Jewish Land Settlement Trust at Berwick

The Jewish Land Settlement Trust endeavour was established at Berwick in 1927. A similar Jewish settlement had been established at Orrvale near Shepparton in 1913. Berwick was selected because it was close to Melbourne and the land could be used for market gardening or poultry which allowed a quick return for effort rather than having to wait for years for orchards to establish like the settlers did at Orrvale (1). The rationale behind the settlements was to give newly arrived Jewish immigrants an opportunity to become farmers and find employment outside the cities  but with ongoing support from the Land Settlement Trust. There is an excellent overview of the rationale of the scheme and how it operated in a report in the Hebrew Standard of Australasia of August 31, 1928, read it here.

The actual settlement was at the Closer Settlement Board Estate, Hallam Valley, Berwick.  This Estate was bordered by Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road on the west, Berwick-Clyde Road to the east, Golf Links Road to the north and  Greaves Road to the south.  The State Rivers and Water Supply Commission had purchased  land in the area in 1924 with a view of cutting up the land into blocks of 10 acres to 16 acres for market gardens and intense culture, as The Age reported. (2)  The report continued with  A portion of the area is at present subject to flooding by the tributaries of Eumemmerring creek, but steps are being taken to reclaim this portion by means of suitable drainage. The blocks are to be supplied with water pressure by means of a pipe system from the Berwick Dandenong main race (3). The Weekly Times described it as scrub-covered, morass land (4). 

Work continued on the reclamation works and The Argus reported on August 18, 1927 that it was now practicable to establish permanent settlement on the land, a large proportion of which formerly carried a dense growth of tee tree scrub covering an undrained swamp (5).

It would be interesting to see the slides of Berwick from this 1928 presentation.

Hebrew Standard of Australasia August 24 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120471277

In a paper written by Jeffrey John Turnbull From Ghettoes to Gardens (6) he lists the eight initial settlers at Berwick as H. Ash, D. Brown, I. Eizenberg, A. Hayat Senior, Hayat Junior, M. Meshaloff, G. Rovkin, A. Sneid.

The Hayat family - photo taken in Cyrpus, early 1920s.

Left to right - Joseph, Jacob, their mother Rachel, Sara, their father Abraham, Amram and Isaac.

Abraham and his son, Jacob, farmed at Hallam Valley.

Image courtesy of Mrs Freda Pamamull, the daughter of Sara.

The Shire of Berwick Rate Books list a number of settlers from the Closer Settlement Board subdivision in the 1928/29 year. The Rate books were not always accurate with the spelling of either given or family names, but here's the most likely matches from the Rate Books. You can find the exact location  of the blocks on the section of the Parish of Berwick plan, below.

Ash, Harry - 31 acres, Lots 30 & 31, Section 3 Hallam Valley
Brown, D - can't find him listed in the Rate Books, however, more of him later.
Eizenberg, I - Mordeka Eisenberg - 12.5 acres, Lot 20, Section 4
Hayat, Abraham - 20 acres, Lot 32, Section 4
Hayat, Jacob - 13 acres, Lot 21, Section 4
Mishaloff, Nathan - 19½ acres, Lot 10, Section 4
Rovkin, Gregory - 22 acres, Lot 14, Section 4
Sneid, Adolph - 25 acres, Lot 21, Section 3.

Jewish settlers were able to buy 11 blocks of the first 89 sold by the Closer Settlement Board, and this later increased to 17 blocks (7). It is hard to work out who the other settlers are as obviously  the religion of rate payers is not listed, but here are some other settlers (8) who acquired land at the same time and who may  have been part of this group of Jewish settlers -

Braun, Boris - 14 acres, Lot 19, Section 4.
Bulate, Alex - 25 acres, Lot 28, Section 3
Ephstein, Boris - 15 acres, Lot 31, Section 3
Haber, Harry - 20 acres, Lot 22, Section 3
Kapel, Judel - 20 acres, Lot 15, Section 4
Mond, Isaac - 15½ acres, Lot 29, Section 3.
Ostin, J. Boris - 24 acres, Lot 23, Section 3
Rothfield, Jacob - 24 acres, Lot 12, Section 3
Silverstein, Abraham - 16 acres, Lot 3, Section 3
Sneider, Moses - 24 ½ acres, Lot 17, Section 4
Sokolow, Abram (also listed as Sholoff) - 12 acres, Lot 26, Section 3 and 12 acres, Lot 26, Section 3a.

Jewish Society -  Lot 9, Section 4 - this was a listing in the 1931/32 Rate Books

The Hallam Valley Estate, from the Berwick Parish Plan. 

Click on the map to enlarge. The Closer Settlement Board farms were on a lease and the land could eventually be purchased but because most of the Jewish settlers had to walk away from their farms due to economic circumstances they are not listed on the Parish Plan, it is the farmers who came after them that ended up buying the farms and it is their names that appear on the Plan. Most of these farmers settled at Hallam Valley from 1934 and about half of these were returned soldiers, who had the land under the Soldier Settlement scheme. To give you some idea of the location of these properties, Lot 9, Section 4 C.M Hatton is the property where the Old Cheese Factory is located.

The settlement started off with high hopes. In May 1928, the Australian Jewish Herald, wrote about the Progress at Berwick -
A few short months ago the place looked very desolate and now, only four months since the Australian Jewish Land Settlement Trust has selected the additional four blocks, the place is fast taking shape, and already presents a pleasing picture. The landscape is changing fast. The newly-built houses are becoming surrounded with green vegetables. Poultry pens, sheds, out-buildings, are springing up. The cackling songs of pedigreed poultry are becoming louder as their numbers increase, and the faces of the settlers are becoming brighter; the hope of soon making a living from the farm does not look so very far distant now, as it did four months ago (9).

Neuman H. Rosenthal, who was acting honorary Secretary of the Australian Jewish Land Settlement Trust, was reported in the Hebrew Standard of Australasia in August 1928 - Then there is Berwick, a settlement of comparatively recent origin but already thoroughly established and already producing revenue for the settlers. Berwick is only 27 miles from Melbourne and there the main product is vegetables. But I would that you could see the difference that even six months toil has made to the immigrants who have been placed at Berwick (10).

Mr L. Morris, a member of the Australian Jewish Land Settlement Trust, also believed that the Berwick Settlement would be successful due to the motivation of the settlers and the standard of the land - 

In regard to the farmer himself, it needs no stretch of imagination to tell you first of all he will do his best because invariably he comes from a  land where he was persecuted, and where he did not know whether he would, apart from natural causes, be alive in the morning. You can understand that they will endeavour to make the best use of their opportunities. These people, we have found, have the fertility of mind, the enterprise, the courage and all that is required to make out from the opportunities that they have the best means to make a living. There is no better land in the world, and we have found a very good spot in Berwick (11).

On the farm at Hallam Valley

Image: Australian Jewish Herald, December 1, 1927  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page29291468

There was much interest from the wider Jewish community in Melbourne in the Berwick Settlement and organisations raised money to support the settlers and make the community a success. In April 1928, the Women's Auxiliary of Jewish Welcome Society was formed  and they organised a picnic for the Jewish farmers at Berwick. The President of the Committee was Mrs Reuben Hallenstein (nee Lucie Michaelis) a woman involved in many charitable causes (12). Mrs Hallenstein provided a sumptuous repast for all present, and the farmers and their wives were very deeply moved by the kindness shown to them. She also told the settlers that she hoped at any time the settlers felt they needed the assistance of the Auxiliary and herself, they would indicate it, and the assistance would be gladly given (13).

A settlers house at Hallam Valley

Image: Australian Jewish Herald, December 1, 1927   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page29291471

From the beginning it was recognised that the success of the enterprise at Berwick would depend on the sense of community that the Jewish settlers found. Newman Rosenthal, who I quoted before, wrote this in December 1927 after a  visit to the settlement -  

I came away from Berwick very sincerely impressed by what I had seen, but, at the same time convinced that more settlers would have to be placed there, and that speedily, otherwise the settlement was doomed. The settlers would only remain there as long as they were forced to. The hardships of isolation were endurable only by those who had no choice. There were the children growing up. What was to become of them? The adults wanted some community life - they had grown up in it.

They feel to-day, as one little woman described it, as if they are living in “Yenner velt.” (14) They require Kosher meat, they feel the loss of the many things that went to make up their Jewish life. And in the absence of numbers, the difficulties in the way of them getting just a little of those things, are insuperable. In my opinion, before the Victorian Community embarks on any other enterprise, it has got to finish the job at Berwick. A number of blocks are still available under the Closer Settlement Act in the immediate vicinity of those already occupied by Jewish settlers. These must be procured, and settled. With a dozen or so families, life will be ever so much more endurable for the individual, and ever so much more Jewish.

And let us not forget that the latter must be, for us, a very important consideration. With a dozen families settled close together, maybe 30 souls in all a real Jewish communal life is possible. They can have their own Shochet, a teacher for the children, and doubtless a little Synagogue. With these things they will probably remain within the fold.  Without them there can only be assimilation or abandoning the settlement. Those who have interested themselves in the endeavour, I know, want neither one nor the other. Then there must be more settlers placed, and at once (15). 

In common with all small family farms, everyone helps - Jewish Settlers at Hallam Valley.

Image: Australian Jewish Herald, December 1, 1927   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page29291471

There were various reports in the newspapers of the community and cultural life of the Jewish settlers which developed at Berwick. This report is from March 1928 and is about the first Beriss-Milah (16)  which took place at the community. Beriss-Milah is the  circumcision ceremony for Jewish baby boys. 

 A large and representative gathering journeyed to Berwick, where the new Jewish Settlements are situated, to attend the Beriss-Milah of the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. David Brown, which took place at their residence on their new farm, on Sunday, February 26, 1928. Mr. Yoffa, Shochet and Mohel, performed the ceremony in his usual most efficient and capable manner. Dr. Jones was Sandik, and Mr. Mrs. and Miss Ellinson, and Dr. Schalit, acted as Godparents. After the ceremony, the guests adjourned to a sumptuous repast, set outside the house, amidst the glorious surroundings of chains of hills, green with tall gums, wattles, and eucalyptus. Dr. Jones, President of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, acted as Chairman, and the usual toasts were honored. The speakers emphasised the importance the first Beriss-Milah held on the new settlement, and also, they hoped that the present Jewish settlers will co-operate with each other and with other settlers who will eventually arrive, stressing the fact that congenial association with each other was necessary for the settlement at Berwick to become a huge and lasting success (17). 

The  procession for the presentation of the Sefer Torah to the Jewish Settlers at Berwick

Image: Australian Jewish Herald September 20, 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262378947 

The important presentation ceremony of the Sefer Torah (spelt Sifer Torah in the article, below) was a joyous and historic event in the small Berwick community;  it took place in September 1928. This is from the Australian Jewish Herald report - 

Presentation of a Sifer Torah - Impressive Ceremony at Berwick Jewish Settlement.
Rabbi Brodie described it as “historic,” when in the midst of a comparatively large gathering at Berwick on Wednesday last, he formally accepted, on behalf of the settlers, a Sifer Torah, lent the settlers by Mr. Louis Morris.....The Sifer Torah was handed over to Rabbi Brodie by Mr. Morris at the entrance to the settlement, and the settlers, with the visitors, then formed in procession behind the Rabbi, as the Torah was conveyed to the residence of Mr. Hyatt, Senior. There, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Morris, an Ark had been erected, in which the Sifer was to be housed. As Rabbi Brodie entered the dwelling, Mr. A. Kozminsky opened the Ark, and the Sifer was placed in it, whilst “Uv’nucho Yomar” was said. Mincha service was then conducted. 

Rabbi Brodie then addressed the gathering. He stressed the significance of the function in which they were all participating. In his opinion, the occasion was historic, and, in the years to come, would mark a further milestone in the progress of the community. He hoped that the settlers would come together regularly, and, as time went on, build a small Synagogue for themselves. He expressed the privilege that was his in having been asked to conduct the ceremony, and he hoped that they would all have a happy New Year. Messrs. L. Morris, L. Kanevsky, I. J. Super, A. Kozminsky, and Dr. M. A. Schalit also spoke. The speakers all expressed the hope that, as the Berwick settlement increased in size, the settlers would work together for the common good, and, as the Jewish people throughout the ages had always made the Torah their rallying point, so would the small beginning that had been made that afternoon develop into a powerful influence for good in the life of the Jewish community of Berwick (18).

Rabbi Brodie accepts the Sefer Torah

Image: Australian Jewish Herald September 20, 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262378947 

Rabbi Brodie addresses the gathering at the Sefer Torah presentation.

Image: Australian Jewish Herald September 20, 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article262378947 

My friend, Isaac, explained to me that a Sefer Torah is the Old Testament, hand inscribed with special ink on a special parchment scroll. It has a specially embroidered velvet cover. There are usually a number of scrolls, the Sefer Torah (The Law) is the scroll containing the 5 Books of Moses. Other scrolls would contain the Prophets and Writings. They are kept in a special ark in a place of worship, in this case, one of the settler's homes. This is where the congregation/ community would come to pray and hold religious services. The presentation of a Sefer Torah is a very important occasion! A Shofar is a ram's horn blown during our High Holy Days at religious services.

A Hebrew School for the children was conducted on Sundays at the Hallam Valley settlement - The Jewish Weekly News had this report - Rabbi Brodie went out to the Berwick Settlement on Sunday to examine the children attending the Hebrew classes. The United Jewish Education Board sends a teacher out there every Sunday. There are about twelve children in the classes but what they lack in numbers they make up for in keenness. I don’t think I have ever come across a keener lot of kiddies (19). 

The Education Department established the  Hallam Valley State School, No. 4407 for the settlers of the Estate. I looked at the Hallam Valley State School file at the Public Records Office of Victoria and came across this list of potential students for the School which opened November 10, 1929. The list (see below) was drawn up a Mr R. Taylor in March 1928. Of the Jewish Land Settlement families, the Eizenberg family had one child aged below 4½, one child aged 4½ to six years old and one child aged between six and fourteen. The Mishaloff family had one child aged between 4½ to six. The Rovkin family had one child aged below 4½, and one child aged between 4½ to six years old.

List of potential students for a proposed school at Hallam Valley

Public Records Office of Victoria Hallam Valley Building file, 1928 - 1954.

Series number: VPRS 795 Consignment number:P0000 Unit number: 3049

The other interesting thing I found in the Hallam Valley School file was this memo dated February 23, 1929 - it reads
Hallam Valley Estate
New School to be erected
Management of Settlement called and asked if possible - Nathan Rothfield - who is now in the Teachers' College be appointed to the school when ready. The settlement is composed of mostly foreigners who desire to learn English and Civics. Nathan Rothfield knows several languages and would be of great assistance to the settlers if an evening school could be established.

Memo regarding the appointment of Nathan Rothfield

Public Records Office of Victoria Hallam Valley Building file, 1928 - 1954.

Series number: VPRS 795 Consignment number:P0000 Unit number: 3049

Nathan was not appointed, the first teacher was Dorothy Miers, then Phillip Jenkin (20) but it would be interesting to know if he had been appointed and with that extra support whether the Jewish Land  Settlement at Hallam Valley would have been more successful. The Teacher Records (21) are available on-line at the Public Records Office of Victoria, so we know something of Nathan and his teaching career - he was born in England on January 29, 1910 and was appointed a Junior Teacher in January 1928. He spent 1929 at Teachers College, then he was appointed Head Teacher at Moyarra State School, No. 3556 in March 1930. Moyarra is near Kongwak, between Korumburra and Inverloch.  His reports were very positive - is very earnest, gives attention to detail, used good methods and secures response, with experience he should do well....is conscientious and hard working...sympathetic...earnest and thoughtful .....reliable, hardworking....mature ability and good teaching power.  However, in August 1932 he was reprimanded for unauthorized absence and neglect of duty; he was granted periods of leave and resigned from the Education Department in October 1934 (22). It is hard to know the reason for Nathan's long period of leave and resignation, but he wouldn't have been the first teacher to find teaching in a small rural school to be difficult and isolating. 

The positive reports of the success of the Berwick settlement continued into 1929. In fact, so successful was the Settlement that a meeting was held at the Maccabean Hall in Sydney in January 1929 to discuss the formation of a Land Settlement Trust along the lines  of the Victorian Trust.  This meeting was reported in the Hebrew Standard of Australasia and Berwick was mentioned in positive terms. A telegram was sent from Dr Albert Jones, chairman of the Victorian Land Settlement Trust - Berwick Settlement today unqualified success. After fourteen weeks settled farmers earning ten to fifteen pounds  weekly. (23).

A report of the telegram sent by Dr Albert Jones,  chairman of the Victorian Land Settlement Trust.

Hebrew Standard of Australasia January 25, 1929  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120468445

Also at the Sydney meeting a letter was read that had been sent to Mr Orwell Phillips from his nephew, Mr Archie Michaelis of Melbourne, describing the Berwick settlement -

However, on Sunday last, in company with several others interested, I went out to Berwick (near Dandenong) where the Settlement is and had a good look around, and I must say I was delighted beyond all measure with what is being done. So far about 14 families have been settled on blocks and as far as I can see and learn from the men themselves they seem extraordinarily well satisfied and are already commencing to make a living. The procedure, I understand, is that the Government provides the land and house and give about 28 years (I speak from memory), to repay the capital by half yearly instalments. The Land Settlement Trust lend the money for such items as furniture, poultry, seeds and certain livestock and the settlers are enabled to start making a living at once by the sale of eggs, vegetables etc., preparing the land in the meantime. I saw a lot of the settlers and the progress they have made is remarkable (24).

This is an excerpt of a letter received by Mr Orwell Phillips from his nephew, Mr Archie Michaelis of Melbourne, describing the Berwick settlement.

Hebrew Standard of Australasia January 25, 1929 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120468445

In June 1931, it was reported that there were 24 families, numbering about 100 souls at Berwick (25). However, the  Shire of Berwick Rate Books show that most of the Jewish settlers had left the area by 1934/1935. For some settlers if may have been the absence of Jewish communal life, however the Depression had a significant impact on the settlers, coupled with a bad season in late 1929, early 1930 - The season through which we have passed has been a particularly bad one. Potatoes which at sowing time could not be bought for £24 per ton, can be obtained to-day at £3 per ton (26). So, clearly commodity prices were one issue, however the situation at Berwick was considered to be no worse that other settlements - In the opinion of the officers of the Victorian State Rivers and Water Commission, the authority controlling the Berwick settlement, the situation at Berwick is no more serious than that facing every agricultural settlement throughout Australia. The complete collapse in the prices of primary products and the problem of financing the farmers through the present depression have created a most difficult position (27). 

Some people actually blamed the failure of some of the Hallam Valley settlers on incompetence of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.  Cr MacGregor at a Shire of Berwick meeting held in October 1929 was reported as saying that he believed that the land was sold to the settlers at an inflated price and 'the manner in which they were treated constituted a scandal of the 'gravest nature' - Almost ruined by the inflated prices they paid to the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission for the blocks, residents in the Hallam Valley settlement are faced with acute distress, stated Cr MacGregor at the meeting of the Berwick Shire Council, last Friday, when a protest was received from settlers against the revaluation of their properties. Cr MacGregor claimed that the manner in which they were treated constituted a scandal of the gravest nature, and fully warranted a public enquiry. Settlers paid £70 an acre for their land and now found that it was impossible to make even a living on their holdings. Incompetence in the Commission's administration, Cr MacGregor contended, was one of the reasons for the hopelessness of the settlers. When the land was being prepared for settlement there was a glaring waste of money in the methods employed to do the work. Where two practical men could have done all that was necessary in weeks, it, took eight of the Commission’s staff months (28).

Cr MacGregor says the treatment of Hallam Valley settlers was of the gravest nature.

Dandenong Journal October 29, 1929 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201029124

Before we leave the Berwick Settlement, there was an interesting report in the Australian Jewish Herald in November 1928 about Ahron Halevy, a talented artist. He was born in Ukraine and then moved to Palestine where he trained as an artist. He later spent time working on farms and as a fisherman on the Jordan River.  Immediately after the war he commenced working for the Scientific Department of the Museum at Jerusalem, which was founded by the Zionist Organisation and which has since been absorbed by the Hebrew University. His work was to depict the flora and fauna of Palestine, and his entire collection now hangs up on the University walls (29). Around 1928 he came to Australia where he was elected as  member of the Victorian Artists Society, but also joined the settlement at Berwick. He not only continued with producing his paintings, wood-cuts, water-colors, and pen and ink sketches at Berwick but also grew strawberries -  Mr. Halevy, who was a strawberry expert in Palestine, is specialising in the same fruit, at Berwick, and, though he has only been a short time on his plot, and has not been graced by too favorable a season, has nevertheless succeeded in making conserves which have astounded all the Governmental experts, who, attracted by glowing reports, asked him to come to Melbourne with some samples (30).  Mr Halevy did not stay at Berwick very long, in fact I can't find him listed in the Rate Books at all, and returned to Melbourne. Mr Halevy held an exhibition at David Jones Department store in Sydney in October 1929 and the catalogue is on-line at the National Library of Australia, view it here.

From the catalogue of Ahron Halevy's October 1929 exhibition

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-448325657 

As we said before most of the Jewish settlers had left the area by 1935 but Adolph Sneid, was at Berwick for the longest period, until 1939/1940 and so with the departure of Mr Sneid the Jewish Land Settlement Trust community at Berwick came to an end.

Acknowledgement

Thank you very much to Mrs Freda Pamamull for providing the photo of the Hayat family. Thank you also to my research colleague, Isaac Hermann, for his input and explaining aspects of Jewish culture to me. It was Isaac who was in touch with Mrs Pamamull, thanks Isaac!

Trove List
I have created a list of newspaper articles about the Jewish Land Settlement Trust at Hallam Valley on Trove, click here to access the list. 

Footnotes
(1) Turnbull, Jeffrey John From Ghettoes to Gardens published in Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, June 1995, pp 39-56.
(2) The Age, November 8, 1924, see here.
(3) The Age, November 8, 1924, see here.
(4) The Weekly Times, January 30, 1926, see here.
(5) The Argus, August 18, 1927, see here.
(6) Turnbull, op. cit, p. 51.

(7) Ibid.

(8) This list is based solely on the names - what looked to me like non-Anglo, Eastern European names of rate payers from the Hallam Valley estate.

(9) Australian Jewish Herald, May 3 1928, see here.

(10) Hebrew Standard of Australasia August 24, 1928, see here.

(11) Hebrew Standard of Australasia August 31, 1928, see here.

(12) Mrs Hallenstein - read her obituary in the Australian Jewish News, March 4, 1949, here. 

(13) Australian Jewish Herald, May 3, 1928, see here.

(14) Yenner Velt - Yiddish - what kind of a world is this?  - comment was made in light of their initial depravations.

(15) Australian Jewish Herald, December 1, 1927, see here and here.

(16) Beriss-Milah - this is how it was written in the Australian Jewish Herald of March 1, 1928, see here. It is apparently also written as Brit Milah or Bris Milah - read more here - https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-brit-milah-bris-ceremony/

(17) Australian Jewish Herald, March 1, 1928, see here.

(18) Australian Jewish Herald September 20, 1928, see here. You can read another report of the event in the Hebrew Standard of Australasia, September 21, 1928, here.

(19) Jewish Weekly News, December 15, 1933, see here.

(20) Vision and Realisation : a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, edited by L.J. Blake. Published by the Education Department of Victoria, 1973.

(21) Public Records Office of Victoria Teacher Record Books VPRS 13579/P0001

(22) Public Records Office of Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/3D9EEB24-F7E4-11E9-AE98-B12C46C6E04A?image=411

(23) Hebrew Standard of Australasia, January 25, 1929, see here.

(24) Hebrew Standard of Australasia, January 25, 1929, see here.  Archie Michaelis went on to become  a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, see his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. Archie was the son of Frederick and Essie (nee Phillips) Michaelis and is also the nephew of Lucie Hallenstein.
(25) Australian Jewish Herald June 11, 1931, see here.
(26) Australian Jewish Herald, February 20, 1930, see here.
(27) Australian Jewish Herald, April 30, 1931, see here.
(28) Dandenong Journal October 29, 1929, see here.  

(29) The Westralian Judean, June 1, 1930, see here.

(30) Australian Jewish Herald, November 15, 1928, see here.