Captain John Mason came from Stirling in Scotland, arriving at Port Fairy in 1844. One year after James Atkinson obtained his Special Survey of the area. Thus his life covers all the history of Port Fairy when it was known as Belfast. He married Jane Murray in Portland in 1846 and they had 5 children, Jane died in 1855 and ten years later he married Ann Brown widow of Abijah Brown. They had no children and she died in 1887. In due course he became known as Captain Mason, he was not a sea captain, but captain of the Belfast Volunteers, a Rifle Corps formed in 1859 as a consequence of the Crimean War, and later reconstituted as the Belfast Volunteer Corps. For 40 years he displayed a remarkable versatility in his various occupations. Starting as an Innkeeper - he took over the Stag Inn from Captain Saunders in 1852, for 3 years. He then became a carpenter, stonemason, architect, estate agent honorary technical advisor to the Borough and treasurer to the Shire, and Savings Bank Secretary. They thought so well of John mason in Belfast that they elected him to the first Roads Board in 1853 and to the first Municipal Council in 1856. He was Chairman four times and with Councillors David Talbot and Joseph Whitehead designed the Council's Common Seal and the Motto "Commune Bonum".He was the first Mayor of the Borough in 1863 for a period of 7 weeks. He was responsible for the design, supervision or construction of many of the buildings in the town; most still standing today. He built the Rosebrook Bridge in 1855 and the first official Post Office ( a timber structure in Bank Street) in 1857, replacing it with a stone office in 1865. he built the Court house in 1859 and completed the breakwater between Rabbit Island and Griffith Island started by James Atkinson and John Griffith in 1849, also the first bridge over the Moyne river which connected with Battery Lane and the Bay. Among the many buildings associated with John Mason are Gobles Mill, Tynemouth Villa, 10-12 Princes Street, the Mechanics Institute, the Commercial Hotel, Yambuk and Mickey Bourke's Pub in Koroit. However, he did not build "Riverdale" in Gipps Street as is thought. He had a store and workshop on this site but sold the property in 1872 before the house was built. After an almost uninterrupted term as Councillor starting with the Municipality in 1856, John resigned from the Council in 1873. He well deserved the illuminated address they gave to him and the toast that they drank in the Bank Hotel champagne. Within the year he was working for the Borough as its engineer., surveyor, general supervisor and advisor of public works, simply as the man to whom all difficult problems were referred and at very little expense. John Mason was a great worker for his town and devoted himself unsparingly to the community. That his work was appreciated was shown by the way in which people rallied to his aid when, in the end, he found himself in financial difficulties and his reputation was challenge; arrested for embezzling from the Savings Bank of which he was the actuary in 1882. The money was repaid and the charges found not proven at his trial. He was an early member of the Loyal Prince Albert Lodge, and a founding member of the smaller Loyal Belfast Lodge in 1863. He was also a member of the Horticultural Society. Captain John Mason Died on the 14th of October 1891 (see also 62-04-046 photo)Sepia photograph on heavy cardStevenson & McNicoll photo. 108 Elizabeth Street Melbourne copies can be obtained at anytimedefence, captain, mason, carpenter, councillor, mayor

Blue cover book of press clippings. .1) 1993 - briar rabbit, brer rabbit, Libby Tanner, Lorrae Desmond, Cherry Orchard .2) 1994 - Bruce Widdop, Eureka, Rebellion, Aiden Fennessy, Steel Magnolias, Rumpilstiltskin, Tale of Two Cities, Peter Tulloch, Ring Round the Moon, Grainery Lane, Barnstorm Theatre, Rivers of China, Lord Wedgewood, Rick Chandler. James Charters, Matt Molony, Antoninino Atzori, Joseph, Len Bauska, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Damian Muller, Bert Labonte, Once a Catholic, Peta Brady, Fiddler on the Roof, King Richard III, The Seagull, Mr Men .3) 1995 - Point of Departure, Stags and Hens, Hansel and Gretel, Rob Knowles, The Would Be Gentlemen, SOund of Music, Barry Breen, The Bundle, Karl Hutton, Much Ado About Nothing, Len Bauska, Hamlet, Pajama Game, Peter Tulloch .4) 1996 Melissa Casey, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Tulloch, Libby Tanner, Rooted, Erard Concert Grand Piano, Atlantis. The Visit, Stella Axarlis, Me and My Girl, Our Country's Good, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Hold the Mayo, The Crucible, Chris Dickins, Stuart Pursell, Arts Academy .5) 1997 - Tempest at Loch Ard Gorge, Maelstrom, Angela Coad, Damian Muller, West Side Story, The Importance of Being Ernest, Mark Gambino, Brett Edgington, Cosi, Damian Muller, Leonard Bauska, Matthew Heenan, Amanda Sandwith, Bacchae, Richard DiGregorio, Roger Woodward, Peter Tulloch, Gavin Fenech, Bruce Widdop, Lola Montez, Tim Haymes, Tina Ford, Ross Jones .6) 1989 - Graeme Bird, Leanne Lettieri, Ballarat Symphony Orchestra, Christopher White, David Addenbrooke, Bruce Widdop, Chris Betts, John Garland, Allan Mann, John Sharpham, David Forrest, Warwick Stengards, Jan Davis, Wendy Morrison, Equus, Scott Cameron, Bryan Trueman, Peter Blizzard, Andrew Burnham, Peter Pilven, Chalk Circle, Tsou Nan-Chien, Ten Little Indians, Doug Wright, Stellarc, Chris Betts, Eric Lovett, Bob Allan, Doug Wright, Kaspar, Bill Levis, The Removalists, Liz Poklar, Goldfields Print Award, Margaret Sulikowski, Kathy Gamble, Maria Froia-Crump, Ian Hemmingway, Geoff Wallis .7) 1989 - Shirley Randall, Fred Sulikowski Fargher, Richard Jeziorney, Shane Lee, Neville Philpott, Val Lehman, Bill Levis, Hamp, Peter Ford, Shane Lee, Richard Akers, Peter Blizzard, Debbie Fraser, Shane Lee, Away, Genevieve Lacey, Pauline Coutts, Tsou Nan-Chien, Petrus Spronk, Debbie Fraser, Chris Betts, David Addenbrooke, Alan Peascod, John Crump, Deb Rosser, Michael Cook, Bruce Widdop, Jenny Trickey, Jennifer Marshall, Stellarc, Carboni, Stuart Matteson, Peter Sargeant retirement, Lyn Conellan .8) 1990 - Micehelle Tuddenham, Pauline Coutts, Anthony Horton, Claire Dale, Kryal Castle, Howard Tostivan, Simon Buckle, Blitz, STelarc, Hitz of the Blitz, Doug Wright, Nerissa Heath, Mieke Glickson, Ruth Greenburg, Peter SParkman, Allan Mann, Rachel Appleton, Michelle Tuddenham, Romeo and Juliet, Jennifer Pacey, Felicity Hay, Kristen Boys, Shane Lee, Norm Strange, Demolition Job, Merran Lisette, Charlotte's Web, Merran Hedbury, Richard Akers, Felicity Hay, Disco, Peter Harbison, Peter Clinch, Jeff Crispin, Cynthia Treadwell, Anagama Kiln, Debbie Lord, Sue Quinlan, Hedder Gabler, , Christine Hateley, Marilyn Chestnut, Geoff Crispen, Petrus Spronk, Peter Ashman, Country Heat, Bruce Widdop, Andrew Seary, Len Bauska, Christopher Pendlebury, Doug Wright, Frank Hurley, Peter Tulloch. Liz Blizzard .9) 1991 - Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Yvonne James, Doll's House, Liz Blizzard, Peter Blizzard, Elizabeth Tanner, Amanda Davies, Kimba Jeffries, Black Comedy and Public Eye, Peter Pilven, Macbeth, Richard Sutherland, Bruce Widdop, The Little Prince, The Would-be Gentleman, The Crucible, Warren Muschialli, Janet Dale, .10) 1992 - Deanne Clapton, Anthony Marsh, Alice in Wonderland, Bruce Widdop, The Beard, Fiona Bennett, Warren Muschialli, Orphans, Peter Blizzard, Red Riding Hood, Circus In a Suitcase, Frank Zappla, The Twelfth Night, Peta Brady, Street Angels, Lawrence Price, Donna Brunt, Jessi Watson, Too Much Punch for Judy, Miranda Crellin, Lyle Quick, Trevor Harris, Howard Tostivan, John Daykin, Barry Breen, The Paradise, Hansel and Gretel, Sandra Moon, Rosalind Lawson, Jason Wasley, The Paradise and The Passion, Simon Buckle, Sam Trinder, Doug Wright, .11) 1998 - Barnum, Skins, Marqui De Sade, Kangaroo Pie, Comedy of Errors, Manhatten, Nicholas Nickleby, Great White Way, Peer Gynt, Boys from Syracuse, Cancerto, Miranda Crellin, Ron McLeod, Alexandra Meerbach, Nathan Firmin, Chris Dickins, Christine Ward, Judith Roberts, Tim Arundell, Dom Phelan, Paul Thomas, Rose Tonkovic, Jon Peck, Andrew Page, Luke Doxey .12) 1999 - Pirates of Penzance, Phil Horwood, Adrian Barnes, Dennis Olsen, Kate Gorman, Nathan Firmin, Margaret Whitlam, Nadine Collins, Liz Gutt, Sara Brett, Kate McLennan, Dom Phelon, Midsummer Night's Dream, Bruce Widdop, Nadia Andary, Amy Maiden, Sing For Your Supper, Tania Burn, Under Milkwood, A month of Sundays, Matt Heyward, Dane Carpenter, Peter Tulloch, phil Crompton, Tim Haymes, David Haymes, Jenny Haymes, Barry Wemyss, Heather Kent, Monty Farag, Sancho de Silva, Jose da Costa, Cameron Sweatman, Ways and Means, Matt Heywood, Rebecca McGuiness, Michelle Pitcher, Peter Tullochperforming arts, visual arts, ballarat academy of performing arts, peter tulloch, bapa