For 100 years Doncaster-Templestowe was a major fruit producing area. The industry had a profound effect on the landscape and vegetation. Although orcharding families came from a variety of backgrounds, German families were an important sub-group.A comprehensive history of fruit growing in the Doncaster-Templestowe area between 1850s and 1950s when orchards began to be subdivided for housing. It includes B&W photos and line drawings and maps. It covers details of the varieties grown, the families involved, pests, machinery involved, markets, blacksmiths and reasons for the demise of the industry in the area.irvine green, eric collyer, doncaster-templestowe historical society, gottlieb thiele, ruffey creek, bismarck street, victoria street, thomas petty, george hislop, john whitten, john clay, august aumann, carl hanke, gottfried uebergang, waldau, max schramm, german lane, george street, john tully, henry crouch, george tortice, august zerbe, jane serpell, sidney williams, phylloxera, joseph bosisto, richard serpell, frederick thiele, w s williams, edwin lawford, james read, john finger, richard clay, ferdinand finger, leeds street, wetherby road, john russell, sarah uebergang, mary hislop, rudolph werner, john petty, archibald mclaren, john hicks, joe hicks, john smedley, william smedley, william hunter, sylvester mullens, laurie's forge, curtis hillman, anne hillman, dan harvey, calder's forge, hillman's blacksmith works, thomas serpell, gill smith, victorian fruit growers association, h g reynolds, alfred thiele, william webb, fred zerbe, mary anne clay, orchardist's coolstore, r h werner & co, j h land, orchardists and fruit cool stores association, a t petty, r read, r chivers, jack noonan, arthur ireland, jack robinson, george knee, donvale cool store, herb petty, frank petty, fred tolly, gordon white, blue moon fruit co-operative ltd, kathleen petty, peg chivers, jack russell, mathew adams, george mcgahy, edwin bullock, james hodson, edwin wilson, david corbett, edwin lowford, thomas beavis, william hanke, tom petty, edward crossman, andrew zander, carl aumann, heinrich fromhold, thomas chivers, william williams, reinhold denhert, henry finger, august furhmann, henry serpell, john ireland, frank smedley, william kent, william knee, thomas buck, henry white, gottlieb leber, alexander speers

This digital image is taken at the time of the opening of the 'Annie Dane Ward' in the Melbourne District Nursing Society After-Care Hospital. Mrs. G. G. Henderson is the Society's President. She is receiving a Centenary gift, a cheque of 500 pounds, from Mrs. Robert Hunter, on behalf of Mr. John Stephenson Dane. Mr. Edgar, M.L.C,. officially designated the Ward and The Rev. A. T. Holden, President-General of the Methodist Church of Australasia, dedicated the Ward. The portrait of Mrs. Annie Dane hangs above the fireplace in the Ward.The Melbourne District Nursing Society, (MDNS), built the After-Care Home in 1926. The Home was extended and the name changed to Melbourne District Nursing Society and After-Care Hospital in 1934. It was situated at 45 Victoria Parade, Collingwood and various Wards were named after donors or patrons of MDNS After Care. Patients of the Society who needed more care than could be given at home, but did not need hospitalization, were admitted to the After Care, along with many patients from Melbourne hospitals who needed further care before going home. Many children were nursed there, some long term, during the Polio epidemic and MDNS employed teachers to give them schooling. In September 1930 an Ante-Natal Clinic was established. In October 1934 a Women's Welfare Clinic was opened to educate women on birth control. This was the first of its kind in Melbourne. The MDNS After Care Hospital was under District's banner until 1956. In 1957 the MDNS and the After-Care separated with the Government taking over the running of the After-Care. Melbourne District Nursing Society then became the Melbourne District Nursing Service and, after Royal patronage, became Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS).In the centre of this digital image, and on the left of the group, is Mrs. G. G. Henderson, who is wearing a black hat over her short grey curled hair and a black coat with fur collar and cuffs over a white top. She has a and white broach attached to the collar of the coat. She is side-on looking to her right facing Mrs. Robert Hunter, who is wearing a small brimmed black hat over short dark curled hair, and is wearing a white blouse, with broach in the centre, and dark skirt under a long dark fur coat with a white broach attached to the collar. She is wearing white gloves and has a small white paper cheque in her right hand which she is handing to Mrs. Henderson. Behind and between Mrs Henderson and Mrs. Hunter, is Mr. Edgar, who has sparse white hair and a white moustache. He is wearing a black three piece suit over a white shirt and dark tie. A watch chain is attached to his vest and a white badge is on the left collar of his jacket. To the right of Mrs Hunter is a Ministers of Religion who has sparse white hair, and is wearing a three piece black suit over a white clerical collar and black 'front piece'. He has a watch chain attached to his vest. To his right is another Minister of Religion, who is wearing a close fitting white cap over his short grey hair and is wearing a dark coat. His white clerical collar and black 'front pierce' are seen; he is holding a brimmed hat in his left hand. Thirteen Sisters, some partly hidden, wearing white uniforms, veils and dark capes are present in two groups; one on the left of the photograph and behind some of the Official party. The other group are to the right behind the last two of the Official party with two Sisters in the right foreground. Next to them, on the far right of the photograph is another Minister of Religion wearing a dark suit, white clerical collar and black 'front piece'. In front of Mrs. Hunter and the first Minister of Religion is a small white wooden table with papers on it. On the rear wall, above the fireplace, hangs a portrait of Mrs. Dane. Part of a vase with foliage is seen to the left of the portrait, and shorter foliage below it. Part of tall foliage is seen on the right hand side of the portrait.melbourne district nursing society, mdns, after- care hospital, annie dane ward, rdns, royal district nursing service, mrs robert hunter, mr edgar - mlc, mrs jessie isabel henderson, rev h.t. holden, mrs annie dane

Mary Tolhurst M&DHS - March 29th Dunvegan Willows Park Melton 1992 Ladies Oral History Day Graham Minns President Ray Radford MC Sound recording transfer to CD 2011 by Tom Wood Edited typescript by Wendy Barrie 2013 I was born in Rockbank, and when I was five years old moved to Toolern Vale and started and finished school there. Toolern Vale only consisted of the Store, Post Office and shop, where you could buy your fodder, and pollard supplies, the Hall, the little Church and the bluestone School. The School changed shape three times from the 1800s[1869] til the time I went there. There was four generations of my family that went there and it was destroyed by fire in 1965. Marjorie nee Myers Butler. Yes, I remember along with it your lovely Ronisch piano. Mary, quite true! Marj what you say about the Ronisch piano. When I came the age to learn music my mum and dad couldn’t really afford it, but still what parents do for their children. They had Marj go along with them and pick this lovely Ronisch piano. It was known round the district. Everyone commented about the loss that lovely piano. After leaving school it was war time, 1939, then it was work, When I was 7 year old I was put out into the cow yard. In 1940 when the soldiers were going away our milk was confiscated it had to go to Bacchus Marsh. It used to go the Sunbury to be brine cooled and then go to Melbourne. Then they took it then to the Lifeguard Milk Factory at Bacchus Marsh. It had to go as condensed milk to the soldiers. This year is 50 years of the Land Army. I was an unofficial Land Army but they still kept check on me. I went onto married life and I followed the cows right through [howls of laughter] and we went on until the 1965 fire. That’s when we got out of the cows. Marjorie asks, was Granny Watts your grandmother or great grandmother? Mary: She was my great grandmother, the midwife of Melton. The 1965 fire started ¾ of a mile above our place, Frank Ryan’s sheds were burnt and his house was saved, then it wiped the School out, the Hall, the Church the Post Office and Store and little house that was Charlie Charlton’s in the early days. Mrs Wilson’s place was saved by the Fire Brigade by pulling boards off the side, and from there it went over the hill and it was stopped at the Rockbank Railway Station. If it had of got over the railway they said it would have gone into Werribee. A lot was burnt out in that strip. Mary nee Nixon Collins: 18 houses burnt that day. Audience question, did Melton get burnt that day? Ray: No. It came down through the Toolern Vale road and cut across about a mile and a half from the cross roads at Toolern Vale from north westerly to the south east and cut through over the Keilor road. Mary: It came in across the creek at Funstons in Toolern, then through Jim Minns. Dorothy was it your place then [nee Knox Beaty] to Ken Beatty’s and from there it went through to Doug McIntosh’s and to Cockbills and the wind changed and it came across to the railway line, and that is where they stopped it. [the cause of the fire was controversial, they had been burning off the night before and there was some talk of someone starting it. It was very hot and very strong wind, it was a terrible day] Ray: When the fire went through McIntosh’s they had a haystack on the north side of their house and the haystack got caught and the fire burnt a hole through the side of the house and the boys pyjamas on the bed. The house was saved. It came through like and express train roaring at you, I was at McIntosh’s when it went roaring past. You couldn’t see, dust and ash and tremendous heat. The fire started about 12 o’clock Jack [husband] said to me, fire, I said where, where? Just up the road, what have I got to do? and he went out and he had gone to the fire and left me. I tried to get the animals and I put out buckets of water, putting the buckets of water out saved my life. Chas Jones and another friend of his came in and they picked up the buckets of water, I thought I had better get out because the fire was on the haystack up the paddock and when I went to go out through the north side of the house and couldn’t get out, I’ll go through the front gate so I went around the other side of the house. I got caught there and Chassy Jones and his friend came round carrying the bucket of water and I panicked. He threw the bucket of water over me. Well that is what saved my life because I was damp, whenever we tried to leave the ball of fire came over me and over my shoulder and my hair was scorched. Chassy Jones lost his truck and Keith Watt his big truck because he had the water tank on it and they couldn’t get out of the yard. Granny Watt’s house, the first private hospital had condemned and Jack and I pulled it down and had it moved up to Toolern and had it in the yard a fortnight and it was all burnt and we didn’t get the shed we wanted. Every 13 years right up until Ash Wednesday fires, there has always been fire close at hand. The 1952 fire went down the back of the house, the 1965 fire took the house, and the house that I live in now, it is the third house that has been on that spot. When the Hunters owned it, Mrs Hunter was nearly burnt in her bed. They had a 13 roomed house. In 1924 the house burnt down, and there was another house was built there and that was the one that burnt down. Edna: So Mary built a brick veneer house. Marjorie: like the three little pigs [laughter] Mary Tolhurst member of the Melton & District Historical Society in the Melton and Moorabool Leader local identities, local special interest groups

Five men in suits with high collars and bow ties pose with three ladies in evening dress. To the far left are Aaron Solomon and Annie Rose Drummond, and to the far right is John Irwin. Aaron Solomon (1870-1936) was enrolled at the RVIB school in 1878, after losing his sight at 6 years of age. He first began participating in concerts in September 1884, at an exhibition of talent that was held by the Institute and the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute, to raise awareness of their work and achievements. He then became a regular performer with the entertainment troupe and travelled around Victoria singing and playing piano, even after his discharge from the Institute in 1892. In 1894 he formed his own troop of players and toured around Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand. This consisted of two females (Tilly Aston and Maggie Mulvogue) and three males (Charles Bartlett, John Irwin and himself). In 1896, Annie Drummond, Nellie Andrew and William Snell replaced the Aston, Mulvogue and Bartlett, and W.W. Spicer was appointed as manager with his wife acting as an assistant to the ladies of the group. In 1897-1898, H Forder replaced William Snell. On a return tour to New Zealand in late 1898, Thomas Andrews - brother to Nellie - joined the troop and Fred Hunter replaced H Forder. This was the first time the troop numbered eight people, who were also present when Annie Drummond married Aaron Solomon in Hamilton, New Zealand on Feb 3, 1899. This image could have been taken in 1898 before they left as a promotional card, or in 1899 when they returned, as a memento of the happy occasion.1 cardboard postcard size image with silver writingA. Marks & Co Elgin Street Carltonaaron solomon, annie rose drummond, w.w. spicer, nellie andrews, thomas andrews, fred hunter, john irwin, a. marks & co

Hawthorn hedges are important reminders of Kangaroo Ground's Scottish heritage. They are Registered on the Victorian Heritage Register. They are "historically significant because the planting of hawthorn hedges reflects the adoption of Eurorpean farming techniques by the Kangaroo Ground population in the period following settlement and because the grid pattern of paddocks that the Hawthorn hedges define is very different to today's farm landscapes." Covered under Heritage Overlay, Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p21 Hawthorn hedges bordering Kangaroo Ground’s gently rolling farmlands are important reminders of its Scottish heritage and are rare so close to Melbourne.1 As early as the 1840s newly arrived farmers from Scotland planted hawthorn hedges around their properties, to protect crops from the numerous kangaroos and wallabies. Many of these hedges survive today. These farmers had the good fortune to settle some of the most fertile land available for cropping in the Colony of Victoria. At that time the black volcanic soil could sustain an amazing two crops a year. By the mid 1850s, 500 acres (202ha) of wheat were growing in Kangaroo Ground. But the crops were threatened by kangaroos, which were so plentiful, that Surveyor-General, Robert Hoddle, named the district Kangaroo Ground in 1838. As post-and-rail fences proved inadequate barriers for the bounding kangaroos, the Scots planted hawthorn hedgerows as they had done in Scotland. Some also used the hedges to net birds, presumably for the table. Interestingly the farmers in the bordering townships of Panton Hill and Christmas Hills, did not plant hawthorn hedges around their properties. Perhaps it was because by the time they settled in the 1860s and 1870s most of the wildlife had been gunned down by residents.2 The canny Scots planted the hedges on public land outside their own farms, as the hedgerows could spread to about five yards (five m) in width. With this impenetrable barrier Kangaroo Ground’s industrious farmers flourished to gain the economic power that saw the Shire of Eltham governed from Kangaroo Ground for 79 years (1858-1937). The Scots jealously guarded their land, so hard to get in Scotland. That is why they refused to release any of it ‘for local roads to follow easier grades as was the case in surrounding districts where roads generally followed ridgelines or streams’.3 Instead the roads were built in accordance with the magnetic bearings of their first survey in 1847 whether that suited the steep topography or not. This could force traffic to diverge when wet through Greensborough and Diamond Creek. Until 1921, the Eltham-Yarra Glen Road beside Wellers Restaurant, ‘dipped down into the upper reaches of Stony Creek’.4 Later some corners were compulsorily cut for the increasing motor traffic. As late as the 1960s, corners were cut to form sweeping curves above and alongside the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery and opposite the Emergency Operations Centre. In the latter case, the farmers – understanding their hedgerows as important heritage – insisted upon their reinstatement to conform to the altered road alignment. Kangaroo Ground’s ancient manna gums also point to the district’s history and to that of the hedgerows. The Aboriginal people had transformed the original forests into grasslands with the fires they lit to attract kangaroos, (which the Scots were to exclude by planting hedgerows). But the Wurundjeri hunters left the gums (Eucalyptus vimminalis cygnetensis), on the grasslands as ‘stalking trees’ to hunt kangaroos. The hawthorn hedges in Kangaroo Ground were neglected for around 60 years from about the middle of the 20th century. Bushfires had created gaps and the hedgerows were not trimmed. Then in late 2005, local historian Mick Woiwod, formed a group to lobby the Nillumbik Shire to restore the hedges, which could last for many centuries. Some hedges in parts of Britain date back to AD 800.5 Although the original Scottish farmers have gone, the hedges are a reminder of when they flourished in the district, which has changed little in 150 years.This collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, eltham-yarra glen road, hawthorn hedgerow, kangaroo ground

"Hunter" pocket watch that was presented to James "Jinger" Trewartha in1899 by the Long Gully Cricket Club. (See 10866.2) District Cricketers subscribed the money for the gold watch and chain that was presented to Trewartha at the 1899 Annual banquet of the Long Gully Cricket Club. A "hunter" pocket watch is a pocket watch with a hinged metal lid that covers the dial and crystal to protect them from damage. The name comes from the convenience of being able to open the watch with one hand while holding the reins of a horse. Pocket watches have been around since the fifteenth century. Around the sixteenth century, Charles II, made it popular by wearing it in a waistcoat. Bright gold 'hunter" pocket watch a double case back. Ornate engraving on front cover - Entwined initials J T. Engraved on back of watch "Presented to J. Trewartha Esq. by the L.G.C.C. Cricketers of Bendigo For Services rendered 1898 - 9" The white clock face has black Roman numerals and a small circular window with the seconds displayed. There is no visible brand on the clock face. The gold chain attached to the pocket watch has trombone links separated by groups of five small links. The pocket watch is stored in a light coloured suede pocket. The watch and suede pocket are stored inside a red cotton fabric envelope pocket with an overlapping section fastened with a press stud. Inside front cover 14 K, small oval shaped pattern.watch, pocket watch, gold, cricket