P Bird's timber merchant brick premises established 1918 and original building with staff lined on the street.Sepia photo mounted on cardboardHandwritten family history of original donor "Ruby Sweetland daughter of Frederick & Emma Sweetland Hay N.S.W./ granddaughter James & Mary Ann Adelaide Collier, Box Hill./ now wife of Alexander Thomas Gunn of Hepburn Springs Vic 1976/Mary Ann Adelaide Collier nee Britnell, was born on way out/to Australia in the St. Vincent Gulf in a sailing boat near Adelaide/ Sth Australia, hence the name of Adelaide/ Alexander Thomas Gunn's grandfather owned the No 1 Country Hotel Licence at Kangaroo Flat "The Glasgow Arms/Hotel. near Bendigo Victoria, about 1840./ They had a family of 6 boys & 5 girls/4 boys Tom, Dan, Jack & Alexander took up land in Thorpedale/ Victoria about 1860 & paid 1 [pound] an acre for it. This land was covered/ in dense forest fern tree & fern gullies & would rain for 6 months/ in this district was the tallest tree in the world height 365 feet./ Palling splitting was main source of living for many years after being/ cleared now produces the best potatoes in Victoria. Very pretty hilly country"bird's timber yard, businesses, bird> p., timber yards, timber merchants, employees

Surrey College was opened in early 1892 by Rev. Dr Frederick Darling who had been the first minister of the Presbyterian Church in Canterbury Road. He resigned this position to open the school which operated until 1908 with additional premises at 12 Vincent Street. The school had 40 boarders as well as day boys. Courses included algebra, euclid, history, typewriting, shorthand and drill. In the 1930s, Nethercourt Private Hospital took over the site. Later it became St Jude's Hospital. land in front of the building was subdivided off in the 1970s. The building is still extant as a private dwelling with York Street, Surrey Hills as the address. This is one of 3 photos donated by Susan Hobbs, whose grandfather Rev. George Edward Downton is thought to have been a student at the college. George E. Downton was born in Avoca in 1885. He was later a missionary in New Guinea and Secretary to the Australian Board of Missions in Adelaide. He died in 1926 or 1927. Sepia photo of 26 men and boys and one female against a background of a two-storey brick building. This is the rear of the Surrey College. There are 4 additional figures in the background and an additional house can be seen beyond the property boundary. Many of the boys wear or hold caps or boaters. The 2 men in the back row on the right are wearing academic gowns and mortar boards. The gentleman with the beard on the end is Rev. Frederick Darling, the Principal of the college. Sepia photo on cream mount board. Note that the photo is detached from the mount, so the photo is numbered SHP2025.15.1 and the mount as SHP2025.15.2.Front: "Surrey College - Surrey Hills / Principal: Rev. Fredk. A. DARLING, Melb. Univ./STAFF AND BOARDERS, 1899." Back: "York Street, Surrey Hills" in grey lead pencil; possibly Susan John's hand. Back, bottom LH corner: "L. Johnstone" Back, top RH corner: "5621" - this was the registration number used by box Hill historical society Middle back: Purple stamp - "Tennent/Photographer / 110 Johnstone Street / Collingwood" schools, 1899, surrey hills, surrey college, rev frederick a darling, george edward downton, susan hobbs, union road, nethercourt hospital, st jude's hospital, 219-223 union road, 1890-1899, york street