Showing 928 items
matching western history
-
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Map and Article, Dunmore, 1 1954 .2 1970
Both these items deal with the property of Dunmore, in the Macarthur/Hawkesdale/ Woolsthorpe area of Western Victoria. The first item is a sheet of paper with a map and details of the sale of portion of Dunmore in 1954. This is an original document. The second item is a history written by Stan Baulch of the property Dunmore from its establishment up to 1970. Dunmore was first established by Charles Hamilton MacKnight and two partners in 1842 and it was purchased by Samuel Baulch in 1893. After Samuel Baulch’s death the property was bequeathed to his three sons. One son, Stanley Baulch (1897-1980) took over the eastern portion which he named Rose Park. Stan Baulch was a member of the Warrnambool and District Historical Society and wrote several articles on aspects of his life and work, including this valuable article on the history of Dunmore. These items are of significance as they concern the estate of Dunmore in Western Victoria, an early and important property which is still farming land today under various owners. .1 This is a sheet of paper containing a map of the Dunmore property on one side and details of the sale of portion of Dunmore on the other side. The map has been annotated in handwritten black ink. The page has been folded twice. .2 This is an article typed on 12 foolscap pages. The typing is somewhat faint in places. ‘Dunmore’ Estate Dunmore baulch family, western district, victoria, dunmore estate, macarthur/hawkesdale, history of warrnambool -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Label, Gaspars Modern Print, Hillier’s Western Hotel, Early 20th century
... , Thomas Hillier History of Warrnambool .1 Hillier’s Western Hotel ...These labels come from the Western Hotel in Warrnambool . The Western Hotel at the corner of Timor and Kepler Streets in Warrnambool was opened in 1870 and was a prominent hotel in the area until it closed in recent years. Thomas Hillier was the licensee from 1901 to 1906. These labels are of interest as mementoes of a former prominent hotel in Warrnambool – the Western Hotel..1 A cream-coloured card with cream printing on a red background and space for an address. .2 A label from a whisky bottle with gilt edging, gold-coloured lettering and a whisky logo. The paper has a straight-edged base and an oval-shaped top. .3 A small sheet of white paper with gold-coloured edging and printing and a whisky logo. .1 Hillier’s Western Hotel Warrnambool .2 Fine Old Scotch Whisky bottled by T.G.L. Hillier Western Hotel Warrnambool .3 Finest Scotch Whisky bottled by T.G.L. Hillier The “Western” Blend western hotel,, thomas hillier, history of warrnambool -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Book, Australian Milk and Cream Bottles, 2008
This book contains information on milk and cream bottles and other dairy-related items. It includes photographs of local milk and butter factories – Warrnambool (Allansford), Grassmere, Koroit, Garvoc, Glenormiston and Byaduk and references to Warrnambool milk suppliers – Antarctic Ice, Tooram and H Lindsay. No details have been found on H. Lindsay, selling milk in the 1920 to 1940 period. Antarctic Ice had a pasteurising plant in Kepler Street in the 1930s and sold to Warrnambool Cheese and Butter and Kraft in partnership and milk was sold under the new label, Sungold Dairies. They then purchased the Kaye Ryan pasteurizing plant in Verdon Street. Kraft moved out of the partnership with Warrnambool Cheese and Butter and Sungold Dairies relocated to the Allansford factory site where they still operate today. Tooram was the name of the property established in the Allansford area by the pioneer settler, John Allan. By the 1860s Tooram had becme well-known for its cheese making and in the 1880s Tooram, owned by Thomas Palmer, had what was described as the finest dairy farm in Victoria. This book is of interest as it contains information on milk and cream bottles and dairy-related items and Warrnambool is the centre of an important dairying industry with the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory in Allansford being the oldest existing dairy product factory in Australia. The book will be very helpful to researchers. This is a soft cover book of 224 pages. The cover has a red background with black printing and a colour image of five bottles and five other dairy-related items on the front cover and colour images of four bottles, a tin and three labels or signs on the back cover. The contents include text on milk and cream bottles and allied material and colour and black and white photographs. dairying in western district of victoria, warrnambool district dairying, history of warrnambool, sungold dairies, tooram -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Document (Sketch Plan of Dunmore), Stan Baulch, 1972
This card has a sketch map showing the properties surrounding Dunmore on one side and a detailed sketch plan of Dunmore homestead in the early 1970s on the other side. The plan of Dunmore homestead shows interesting features such as the brick oven for bread making, the croquet lawn, the site of the aboriginal mia mias, the Turkish baths and the fowl house used later as a poison house. Francis and Ann Baulch were pioneer settlers in the Kirkstall area and their son Samuel worked at Dunmore in the Macarthur area before purchasing in the early 1870s the property he named Rose Park. In the 1890s he acquired property in the Dunmore estate and his son Stan Baulch gained a section of the Dunmore property after his father’s death. Stan Baulch named this Dunmore section, Rose Park, a property to the west of his father’s original Rose Park property. Stan Baulch was a long time member of the Warrnambool & District Historical Society and he contributed many local history articles and donated many local artefacts to the Society.This sketch plan is of interest as it tells us what the historic homestead of Dunmore in Western Victoria was like in the early 1970s. It will be useful for research. This is a sheet of white lightweight cardboard with a pencilled sketch on one side and a blue ink sketch plan of a house on the other side. The edges of the card have some torn sections. The card is enclosed in an oval cardboard cylinder (recycled and torn at the ends). Both the card and the cover have handwritten titles in ink. Dunmore Homestead & History by S. Baulch Dunmore Homestead drawn by Stan Baulch c.1972 dunmore property, western victoria, baulch family -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
medal, 1 Newman .2 Stokes, Warrnambool & District Caledonian Society, Mid 20th century
These medals have been issued to members of the Warrnambool and District Caledonian Society (one to a committee member). This group is dedicated to preserving and promoting Scottish heritage in the local area and sponsors Scottish country dancing and Highland dancing. The group has its origins in the establishment in Warrnambool of the Western Caledonian Society in 1864 and annual Highland Gatherings were held in the district for many decades after this. These medals, artistically-pleasing ones, are of interest as mementoes of a long- established society in Warrnambool – the Warrnambool & District Caledonian Society. .1 aA gold-coloured medal with gold lettering within a blue circle, a thistle image at the top of the medal and an image in the centre of a coat of arms surrounding an enamelled shield. The medal is attached by a metal clip to a metal chain. .2 A medal in the shape of a shield with gold lettering and images of a thistle and leaves in green and maroon colouring set against a gold background. The medal has a metal bar attached to the top and this bar has a metal clip at the back. .1 Warrnambool & District Caledonian Society In Defence Nemo Me Impune Lacessit Newman .2 Warrnambool & District Caledonian Soc. Committee Stokes warrnambool & district caledonian society, history of warrnambool, warrnambool and district caledonian society, scottish country dancing and highland dancing -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Medal, Villers & Heytesbury, 1879
This splendid medal was awarded by the Villiers and Heytesbury Agricultural Association in 1879. This association held its first show in Port Fairy in 1854 and in Warrnambool in 1855. It continues to this day under the name of the Warrnambool and District Agricultural Society. The medal was awarded to James Astley Bromfield, am early Warrnambool chemist who arrived in Victoria in 1852 and is significant in Warrnambool’s history. He produced the 1856 map of the Warrnambool district with the first landowners, a seminal resource for historians and was prominent in community affairs, especially in horse racing. He was also a Warrnambool and Shire Councillor. The medal was awarded for the best blood yearling of 1879 and this was Fright, one of the progeny of the famous stud horse Panic (second in the Melbourne Cup, 1865), His progeny won many hurdle races and flat races including the Melbourne Cup. The medal features also the names of two donors of prizes to James Bromfield, Henry Phillips and Francis Tozer, both pioneer men in Warrnambool’s horse racing history. Henry Phillips was the first President of the Warrnambool Amateur Turf Club and had the horse Panic standing at his 1000 acre stud, Bryan O’Lynn, at Purnim in the Western District. Francis Tozer was an owner, breeder and steward in racing circles and in the 1870s had the 2000 acre stud farm, Wangoom Park, at Wangoom, near Warrnambool.This is a most significant item as it was awarded to James Astley Bromfield, an early Warrnambool chemist and a person concerned with the history of the early settlement of Warrnambool and one prominent in community affairs in Warrnambool in the 19th century. The item also has connections with the famous stud horse, Panic and two other noted personalities of Warrnambool and district, Francis Tozer and Henry Phillips. The item also is of intrinsic monetary value as a 19th century medal from the Villiers and Heytesbury Agricultural Association. This is a round silver medal. It has etched printing on one side and raised images of farm animals and farm implements on the other side. It also has etched printing around the edge of the medal. There are some slight dents around the edge of the medal.‘Villiers & Heytesbury Agricultural Association 1st Prize Awarded to J. A. Bromfield for Blood Yearling 1879 ‘Fright by Panic’ Warrnambool Oct. 16 1879’ ‘Also Phillips and Tozer’s Special Prizes’ james astley bromfield, warrnambool, villiers and heytesbury agricultural association, henry phillips, warrnambool, francis tozer, warrnambool, history of warrnambool -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Book, Telephone Directory 1969, 37 Browns Road
This telephone directory of 1969 has entries from the Camperdown, Casterton, Colac, Edenhope, Hamilton, Portland and Warrnambool districts. The directory came from the Nullawarre Post Office at the time when Charles Williams was the Post Master (mid 20th century) and delivered two runs of mail a day. His wife, Vida was the Post Mistress. Nullawarre is a small agricultural settlement 25 kilometres south east of Warrnambool and today has a general store, Post Office and school. This telephone directory, which has local provenance (Nullawarre Post Office), will be of great use to researchers as it contains the names and addresses of private individuals and businesses in the Western District of Victoria in 1969. It is also of interest as many of the entries give the names of the country properties at that time and the entries are listed separately under the names of the various towns. This is a soft-cover booklet of 392 pages. The front cover is multi-coloured and has a photograph of a parrot and the back cover has an advertisement in blue and white. There are 200 white pages and 192 pink pages of telephone numbers in Western Victoria in 1969. The printing throughout is black and the pages are very faded. communications, warrnambool, history of warrnambool -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Book, That Ragged Mob, 2009
This Boer War book was written by Robin Droogleever. It is a comprehensive history of the 3rd and 4th Victorian Bushmen Contingents and gives biographical details on everyone who served in these units. Many of the men in these units came from Warrnambool and the surrounding districts and many had been members of the Mounted Rifles or the Western Artillery units before enlisting to serve in the Boer War. One of these was Major Joseph Dallimore from Lake Gillear and his diaries are used extensively in this book as a primary historical source of the events of the war.This is an important reference book detailing the history of the 3rd and 4th Victorian Bushmen Contingents in the Boer War. This book contains many references to the servicemen in the Boer War who were in those units and who came from Warrnambool and district This is a hard covered book of 706 pages. The cover is blue with gold printing on the spine. The dust cover has an off white background with a photograph of some Boer War soldiers on the front and spine and colour photographs of medals, a shoulder badge and a war memorial on the back cover.The text is in two sections with eight parts in the first section and nine parts in the second section. The book contains many black and white photographs, maps and sketches and brief biographical notes on the soldiers who served in the military units described in the book. To Elizabeth O Callaghan, my best wishes, Rob Droogleever 17/10/09boer war, warrnambool -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Document, Letter to Mr J H Osborne 1901, 1901
Thomas Hamilton Tracey Osborne was born at Belfast 4/9/1851, the son of Thomas Hamilton Trail Osborne and his second wife Eliza nee Treacey. The young Thomas spent many hours among seamen and ships at Port Fairy. He moved to Warrnambool and commenced work as secretary to the Western Steam Navigation Company becoming manager in 1883. After the company failed he joined with Mark Saltau and they traded as Saltau and Osborne. His other main interest was writing some of which he did under the nom de plume of Sliding Gunter. These articles appeared in The Warrnambool Standard and the Belfast Gazette. He was knowlegable and maintained an interest in shipping and the sea. He died in 11th December 1902 and his body was taken on board the Julia Percy and was buried at sea out from the Breakwater. He was well liked in the district and people lined the Cannon Hill area and the foreshore to farewell him. As an avid writer he corresponded with many people and this letter is one such letter. It relates to recollections of the wreck of the Maria in 1840 out of Adelaide and the loss of life which followed. Unfortunately the letter is incomplete.This letter is of interest as it is addressed to one of Warrnambool's interesting people at the turn of the 20th century. Thomas Hamilton Tracey Osborne has left a legacy of much written work which records aspects of Warrnambool's history as well as his interest in ships and seafaring. This letter shows he drew his information from various sources.One lined page of a letter written in black pen. A wide margin on the left side of the page . The back is blank.The letter is addressed to Mr T H Osborne. Date November 30th 1901.thomas hamilton tracey osborne, western steam navigation company, saltau and osborne, 1901 letter, wreck of the maria 1840 -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Textile - Silk Handkerchiefs, 1940s
These three souvenir handkerchiefs were brought back to Australia after World War Two by James Godfrey. Flight Lieutenant James John Godfrey enlisted in World War Two in the Australian Air Force from Bessiebelle in western Victoria. He was attached to the British 8th Army under General Montgomery in North Africa and then took part in the landing in Sicily and the subsequent campaign through Italy. Before returning to Australia he travelled to Israel and Austria. These handkerchiefs are retained, firstly as examples of souvenirs brought back to Australia from returning military personnel after World War Two and secondly as souvenirs belonging to James Godfrey who had connections with the Warrnambool district. .1 This is a small pink silk handkerchief with a fluted edge and with some embroidery in one corner with flowers and wording in green, yellow and orange. .2 This is a small aqua-coloured silk handkerchief with a stitched edge and some stitched wording in one corner. Much of the edge stitching has been lost. .3 This is a white silk handkerchief with a stitched edge and a stencilled image in one corner. .1 Till we meet again .2 Bethlehem .3 Souvenir of Egypt world war two, history of warrnambool, james john godfrey -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Medal - Medals WW1, R.A.Hose, 1919
These medals were awarded to Robert Andrew Hose, enlistment number 114 was born in Warrnambool in 1892 (parents George and Janet Hose). Prior to enlistment in World War One in 1914 Sergeant Robert Hose served with the permanent armed forces at Maribyrnong, Melbourne. He saw war service in Egypt, Gallipoli and the Western Front. In May 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal for his courage and resourcefulness and being a fine example to his men in an incident near Beaumetz les Cambrai in France. He died of his wounds a few days later. He is buried in France. These World War One medals are of high significance, particularly the Military Medal awarded for bravery to Robert Andrew Hose, a soldier born in Warrnambool. The Military Medal is a treasured item in our collection because of its rarity and association with a local World War One hero. .1 A bronze medal with a laurel wreath and printing on one side and the figure of Winged Victory on the other side. There is also an inscription around the edges. .2 A silver-coloured medal with the image of King George V of Britain on one side and the image of a figure on horseback. The medal has a metal bar at the top to which is attached a multi-coloured ribbon. .3 A silver medal with a laurel wreath, a crown, initials and printing on one side and an image of King George V of Britain on the other side .4 A black and white photograph of a soldier (R.A.Hose) with handwriting on the front and handwriting and printing on the back. This photograph is a post card. .1The Great War For Civilisation 1914-1919 .2 1914-1918 114 SJT R.A.Hose 1st F.A. Bde. A.I.F. .3 For Bravery In The Field 114 SJT. R.A. Hose 1st F.A.Bde Aust. P.A. .4 Sgt. R.A. Hose MM robert andrew hose, world war one, history of warrnambool, r a hose 114 -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Book, Border Watch Pty Ltd, Waranton, 1986
... , and in particular, Victoria and the Western District in the 19th and 20th ...This book by Jack Gorman contains articles on horse racing in Australia, and in particular, Victoria and the Western District in the 19th and 20th centuries. It includes articles on the 1891 Melbourne Cup, the Casterton Centenary Cup of 1961, the champion horse ‘Waranton’, hunting in the Casterton district, the 1922 Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool and many people associated with horse racing in the past. This book is retained as it contains articles on various horse races and people associated with horse racing of the past in the Western District of Victoria, including accounts of Warrnambool races. It will be a useful addition to our local history library. This is a soft cover book of 52 pages. The cover has brown and white colouring and has an image of the finish of a horse race and black printing. The pages contain printed material, black and white photographs and sketches. The book has been stapled but the staples have been removed.western district horse racing, grand annual steeplechase, history of warrnambool, casterton centenary cup, jack gorman -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Magazines, 1 W.D. James & Co .2 H.J. Paynter & Co, The Link, Early 1920s
These magazines originally belonged to Catherine Mary Stewart who taught at Penshurst State School. She was the grandmother of the donor of the two magazines. These magazines were produced in the 1920s by the inspectorate of the Warrnambool district schools and they featured contributions by the pupils and teachers from the schools in the area. The magazine, ‘The Link’ was first published in September 1921 and came out once or twice a year in the early 1920s. In 1924 the magazine had a circulation of 1500 covering 107 State Schools, one Technical School, one High School, two Higher Elementary Schools and 17 registered schools. The contributions from the pupils are of special interest today as many of the names later became important locally and some of the photographs are of interest as they are ones not in local collections today. These magazines are of considerable importance as they contain many photographs not previously seen and much original material (articles, poems etc) produced by pupils and teachers in the Western District of Victoria in the early 1920s. They are of value to researchers. .1 A soft cover booklet of 42 pages. The booklet is stapled. The cover is buff-coloured with blue printing and it has images of children, schools, sporting equipment, technical classes and other decorative material. The booklet contains printed material, black and white photographs and advertisements. .2 as above except that there are 72 pages and a different publication date education in the western district, “the link” schools magazine, history of warrnambool -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Booklet, A band of gypsies: employees of Niel Black & Co in the pre-goldrush era: a work in progress, August 2011
Niel Black was an early settler in the Western District of Victoria who held large tracts of land including Glenormiston and The Sisters estates. Black was responsible for bringing many employees to the area. The employees' names, birthplace, arrival date, marriage partner/s, other employers are tabulated. An overview of Black's properties and conditions of the time is also included.This booklet documents those who came to the Western District to work for Niel Black prior to the goldfishes of the 1850s.In-house booklet with plastic sleeve outer cover, with black & white images of sheep shears, wool and a map of the Black property. All text is in black.emigration, employment, family history, early victorian squatters -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Newspaper, Warrnambool Standard July 1, 1905, 1905
The Warrnambool Standard newspaper was started in 1872 by William Fairfax and Henry Laurie. It continues in that context today as a daily newspaper for the Western District. This copy is dated July 1 1905 and covers items of interest and advertisements for current businesses many which continued as household names until the latter part of the 20th Century. These include the following: J Younger, E Battarbee, Beattie and Phillips,Wm Ardlie, H G Wilkinson Cramond & Dickson, F Tozer, Wm Swinton, Bruce & McClure. There are reports covering items of local, national and International news events.This paper provides a snapshot of history in the given era from a Warrnambool perspective. It shows the wide range of businesses operating at the time 1905 and the general interests of the people.Four pages of newsprint with the mast head of the Warrnambool Standard . the paper is dated Saturday July 1, 1905. The Warrnambool Standard with which is incorporated the Warrnambool Examiner, circulating throughout the Western District of Victoria. Price -One Penny. The words printed on a banner run below the masthead groups of cattle horses and sheep and reads "By these we thrive". Advance Australia is similarly written underneath a Coat of Arms. warrnambool standard 1905 -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Booklet, Tarrone, 1983
A brief outline of the history of the Tarrone estateThis is a booklet of 20 pages. It has a buff-coloured cover with two black and white photographs and red print. The pages contain black and white photographs, printed text, maps and illustrations. The booklet is stapled non-fictionA brief outline of the history of the Tarrone estatesoldier settlements post world war two, tarrone estate -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Clothing - cream silk blouse, 1939
This blouse was made by Annie Beryl Mathieson from silk material which came originally from China via family relatives. Annie Beryl Mathieson, born in Western Australia in 1910, married John Harman in Nullawarre in 1939 and made the blouse which she wore under a navy costume for her 'going-away' outfit. They lived at Macarthur and Annie Beryl died in 1983. This blouse is of interest as an example of women's fashions in in the late 1930s and of handmade clothing in the same era.This is a cream silk blouse. It is gathered from the bust line with navy cotton embroidery on the upper section and it has a pointed collar with cream lace edging, small puffed sleeves with navy embroidery and an open neckline laced up with a navy cord. annie beryl harman, warrnambool history -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Archive (collection) - Elmac Hydroponics business material, Elmac Hydroponics, 2004
Business owners collectionCollected for archival reasonsMaterial in foldernewspaper cuttings, certificates, photographs, articles re the business operationswestern district industrieswestern district industries -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Photograph - Framed photograph of John Bennett, John E. Bennett, 1926
This photograph was taken when John Bennett was the Chairman of the North Western Woollen Mills Company of Stawell in 1926. English born John Bennett came to Warrnambool in1909 and was the first manager of the Warrnambool Woollen Mill. He went back to Yorkshire in England to purchase equipment before the opening of the Mill in 1910. He was manager of the Warrnambool Woollen Mill for nearly 20 years, finishing in 1928 and dying in the same year. The Warrnambool Woollen Mill was a major 20th Century industry, closing in the year 2000.This photograph is of considerable significance as a memento of the first manager of the Warrnambool Woollen Mill one of the most important industries in Warrnambool's history.This is a black and white photograph in a circular wooden frame, with a wooden mount covered with a concave glass. It has a plaque at the base with white printing.John E. Bennett First Chairman of Directors North Western Woollen Mills Pty. Ltd. 1926warrnambool woollen mill -
Warrnambool and District Historical Society Inc.
Administrative record - Lance Patent Pan Company Letter Book, late 19th century and early 20th century
This letter book contains letters written by representatives of the Warrnambool Lance Patent Pan Company to agents in Western Australia during the period 1896 to 1913. This company was formed to market the Lance Patent Cess Pan produced by George Lance in Warrnambool. The Western Australian venture did not prove profitable for the company. George Lance was a Warrnambool plumber and gasfitter who produced the Eureka Pump and the Lance Patent Cess Pan. The latter sold widely in Victoria with the Warrnambool Council owning 1700 of these pans in 1896. George Lance was also prominent in Warrnambool as a musician, artist (eleven of his works are in the Warrnambool Art Gallery)and local history writer. He was also involved in the development of the Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and the establishment of the Warrnambool School of Art and Design and the Warrnambool Art Gallery. This letter book is of considerable interest as it gives details on one aspect of the George Lance invention of the Patent Cess Pan (its marketing) and George Lance played an important role in Warrnambool's late 19th century history.This is a letter book of 506 pages. It has a hardboard cover with a mottled red pattern and red binding on the spine. The pages contain an alphabetical index and copies of letters handwritten in black ink. There are many blank pages. The letter book cover is torn at the edges.george lance patent cess pan -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Colour Print, Belle Vue, Livingstone Road, Eltham, c.2015
Belle Vue property in Livingstone Road, Eltham was once owned by Society member Jo McCormick. Jo was a valued member of our committee and dear friend of many of our members until her death in 2009. Belle Vue is the farmhouse of a property that is now a significant part of suburban Eltham, just a short distance north of the town centre. Originally purchased by pioneer Eltham farmer Henry Stooke, the present-day old farmhouse sits within an extensive suburban residential area. The history of the property is largely based on a heritage assessment prepared by consultant Lorraine Huddle for Nillumbik Shire Council. Additional information from our Society records reveals Belle Vue farm comprised about 56 ha (140 acres) extending northerly from the northern boundary of Holloway’s 1851 Little Eltham subdivision. On the present day map the southern boundary was just north of Elsa Court and Grove Street. The western boundary was the Diamond Creek and extended northerly to Main Road where it turns easterly towards Research. It was traversed by the main road to Kangaroo Ground and beyond and from 1912 by the railway to Hurstbridge. From 1895 the farm was owned by William Williams and his wife Mary Ann. In 1914 -15 they built a new house now known as Belle Vue. They sold the land in 1920 and residential subdivision began soon after that. Belle Vue remains today on a substantially subdivided and very much reduced size residential lot in Livingstone Road. The house and many old trees on the site were subject to a heritage overlay under the Nillumbik Planning Scheme. Despite that overlay, the development and subdivision of the original land resulted in most of the heritage listed trees being removed. belle vue, eltham, livingstone road -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Aerial Photograph, Landata, Eltham; Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (Stokes Orchard Estate), Feb. 1979
Centred on present day Diosma Rd, Stokes Pl, Nyora Rd and Eucalyptus Rd Historic Aerial Imagery Source: Landata.vic.gov.au Aerial Photo Details: Project No :1716 Project : WESTERN PORT FORESHORES Run : 15 Frame : 91 Date : 02/1979 Film Type : B/W Camera : RC8 Flying Height : 5500 Scale : 10000 Film Number : 3286 GDA2020 : 37°42'47"S, 145°09'57"E MGA2020 : 338339, 5824447 (55) Melways : 22 C4 (ed. 42) A History of the Development of Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik – Stokes Orchard Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) is a square allotment of 158 acres or approximately a quarter of a square mile. It lies just beyond the eastern end of Pitt Street, south of Nyora Road to the northern end of Eucalyptus Road and extends east from Eucalyptus Road to Reynolds Road. The topography of CA15 is generally steep, sloping up to a hill near the centre of the land, the ridgeline passing through the properties along the southern side of Diosma Road. Eucalyptus Road is a straight north-south road with its northern end at the north west corner of CA15. Until the end of the 1970s this road was an un-named Government Road and was largely not open to traffic. With residential development in the 1970s the road was constructed, and the council allocated the name obviously in recognition of the predominant species of the local bushland. CA15 was purchased from the Crown by George D’Arley Boursiquot, a prominent Melbourne printer, on 28th October 1852. On November 23, 1922, former Member for Gippsland and Melbourne Real Estate Agent, Hubert Patrick Keogh purchased the allotment then sold it March 13, 1925, to local farmer, Robert David Taylor, a former Shire of Eltham Councillor (1911-1920) and Shire President (1919). Taylor had extensive land holdings stretching west towards Bible Street and Main Road. The Taylor home was situated at the top of the hill in Bible Street at present day 82 Bible Street. At the time of Taylor’s purchase in 1925, CA15 was subdivided into 48 lots that could be described as small rural properties or large residential lots. A typical lot size was one hectare or 2.5 acres. The subdivision created two roads, Nyora Road, and Diosma Road, each following an irregular alignment between Eucalyptus and Reynolds Roads. However, the lots were not sold off separately nor were the roads constructed. The land effectively remained as one parcel for many further years. Robert David Taylor died November 30, 1934, and probate was granted to his son of the same name, Robert David Taylor of Bible Street, Salesman and William McLelland Vance Taylor of 73 Emmeline Street, Northcote, Clerk, with the transfer of the land into their names on July 8, 1935. Frank Stokes worked as a qualified accountant at Kennons leather factory in Burnley, while living at 1 Thomas Street, Mitcham. He suffered from migraines and wanted to return to working the land (he had previously worked on farms and orchards since coming to Australia from England in 1926, both in WA and Vic.). He first travelled to the district by train in July 1942 to find land with the intention to establish an orchard. By chance he met Arthur Bird of Bird Orchard (bounded by Pitt Street, Eucalyptus Road, and Wattle Grove) and they got talking over their common interest. Arthur put Frank up for the night and pointed out the land, 158 acres- part of the Taylor Estate- £900, Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) somewhat diagonally opposite Bird Orchard. Stokes applied through the Riverina Agency to purchase the land who in turn applied for permission from Canberra to sell as there was a new government regulation introduced during the Second World War banning land sales except for immediate production. Stokes obtained a loan on his Mitcham house of £600 @ 5% and paid £450 deposit with quarterly payments of £15 spread over 5 years. Stokes was assisted and advised by Arthur Bird who farmed the neighbouring orchard. In early 1943 Stokes took possession and would catch the train out to Eltham on Fridays after work and began building a hut on the corner of Nyora Road and the Government Road (Eucalyptus Road) for shelter and to lock up tools. He established an orchard on the central western part of the land through the centre of which ran a natural waterway (part of the present-day linear park) and was able to pay a neighbour (Hawkins) to help with clearing and fencing 25 acres, and with a horse and single furrowed plough, planted approximately 2,500 fruit trees - cherries, peaches, plums, almonds, pears, apricots and lemons as well as a few apples and oranges; a massive task. Aerial photographs from the 1940s through to the 1990s clearly show the orchard with most of the larger CA15 site remaining as natural bushland. A huge problem was hares and rabbits eating all the new buds off the tiny trees. As well as laying poison he painted the trees with a mixture of cow manure and lime, often working by moonlight. Procurement of wire and wire netting was difficult because of the war but after much effort he obtained a permit from the Agricultural Department for supplies in March 1944. In February 1945 Stokes applied for a permit to build a “packing shed” as no house building was allowed. It was to be 33 feet x 21 feet and cost £312. It was constructed mostly from second-hand materials, which were hard to obtain, especially iron for roofing. Stokes finished work at Kennons on October 31, 1945, and in March 1946 he sold the family home at Mitcham for £1,230 plus £170 for furniture. On May 15, 1946, title to the CA15 property was issued to Frank Howard Alfred Stokes, Orchardist and Gladys Ethel Stokes, Married Woman, both of Pitt Street, Eltham. The family of five then moved into the very unfinished “packing shed” at Eltham, which was a struggle to weatherproof. Eventually rooms were divided off and lined with hessian bags and whitewashed. Their income was firewood (cut and sold), selling rockery stones and cut Sweet Bursaria. (It was discovered during the 1940s that Sweet Bursaria contained the sunscreen compound Aesculin. The RAAF utilised this compound from Sweet Bursaria during WW2 for pilots and gunners.) The orchard’s first fruit sale was a half-case of Le Vanq peaches in December 1947 for the price of 8 shillings. In 1956 plans for house were drawn and Glen Iris bricks purchased (1956 Olympic Rings variant). The building of the house commenced in 1957 - 12 feet of original packing shed was removed – and was completed in 1959. Water was connected from newly built pressure storage on the property at the end of 1959 and the electricity connection for the first time at 3pm on April 29, 1960. The house remains to present day (somewhat modified) at 1 Nyora Road, home to Nyora Studio Gallery. On occasions, spare remnants of the 1956 bricks have been known to be unearthed in gardens on the estate as they were utilised by Frank Stokes to fill in rabbit holes. On May 26, 1950, a parcel of land was compulsorily acquired by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works on the hilltop to establish an easement for a high-level service reservoir to augment Eltham’s water supply. The project also included pipe tracks for the necessary water mains. The reservoir has now been superseded by higher level water tanks east of Reynolds Road and its former site is now a public reserve. On November 27, 1964, the State Electricity Commission served notice to compulsorily acquire a further parcel through the eastern part of the land for a major electricity transmission line that augmented supply from the La Trobe Valley to Melbourne. The easement was registered February 11, 1966. The easement was widened July 18, 1969 for a second transmission line to be constructed. In 1971 Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme amendments adopted Nyora Road as the boundary between a residential zone to the north and a rural zone to the south. This determined the future development of the land. In the mid-1970s the Shire of Eltham divided the orchard into numerous rate-able parcel lots, the 48 lots having been established in 1925 and the subsequent rates assessment proved unsustainable for Stokes. He commenced selling lots outside the boundary of the orchard, north of Diosma and South of Nyora. However shortly later the land between Nyora and Diosma Roads and west of the electricity easement was sold and subdivided into residential lots, a housing development by Macquarie Builders and marketed as the Stokes Orchard Estate. New streets were created, and most were named after trees, although one, Stokes Place, commemorates the former owners. The development was undertaken in two stages; Stage 1 (1975) encompassing Scarlet Ash Court, Ironbark Close and Peppermint Grove bounded by Nyora and Eucalyptus roads and Stage 2 (1978) encompassing Stokes Place, Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout bound by Nyora and Diosma roads. The developer, Macquarie Builders went bankrupt shortly after the release of Stage 2 leaving many purchasers to fend for themselves and arrange for their own independent builders. There were also difficulties with sewerage for the land immediately south of Diosma Road and so the conventional residential lots were abandoned in favour of larger lots. The development of Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout did not proceed as planned and the proposed lots were incorporated into five-acre parcels instead. These included a low-density group housing development by the Graves family and the award winning Choong House (1983) with Gordon Ford developed garden immediately next door situated on the ridge of the hill nestled amongst the original bush, Eucalypt trees and Sweet Bursaria. In 1994, Nillumbik Shire Council applied Significant Environment and Significant Landscape overlays upon the properties on the south side of Diosma Road to ensure protection of this natural bush garden environment. With the arrival of the sewer along Diosma Road in the 1990s, most of these five-acre parcels have since been subdivided multiple times. The Choong house presently sits on a 2.7-acre property, which in 2022 Nillumbik Council nominated for Cultural Significance Heritage protection and is considered potentially significant at State level. The Stokes family were also associated with the Eltham Christian Church. In the 1970s this church had met in temporary premises in Eltham. Lots of the original 1925 subdivision remained south of Nyora Road and a number of these lots were utilized for the Eltham Christian School, which was established by the Eltham Christian Church in 1981. The school operated on this site until 2000. The premises are now used by The Vine Baptist Church. By the mid-1980s the whole of CA15 had been developed for residential and school purposes, except for the sections north of Diosma Road and between the transmission lines and Reynolds Road. Sewerage issues had been resolved for the section north of Diosma Road and in 1987 it was in the process of being subdivided into residential lots. The development coincided with the discovery of colonies of the rare and endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly on the site. This resulted in a community and political campaign to save the butterfly habitat. With the co-operation of the land developer the subdivision was altered to create two bushland reserves in the critical butterfly habitat areas. In the late 1980s the State Government was investigating options for establishing a metropolitan ring road link between Diamond Creek and Ringwood. The chosen route was adjacent to Reynolds Road and so this created a freeze on development of CA15 between Reynolds Road and the electricity easement. The ring road proposal was eventually abandoned, and this part of the land was subdivided into low density residential lots. Diosma Road has been discontinued at the electricity easement and the eastern part incorporated into View Mount Court with access from Reynolds Road. The whole of CA15 has now been developed for residential or associated purposes, ranging from conventional density to quite low density south of Nyora Road. Some remnants of the orchard remain, a few cherry trees on the Graves property and a lone apple tree in Stokes Place. The butterfly reserves comprise significant areas of remnant bushland. Linear reserves through the estate link with central Eltham via the Woodridge linear reserve and with Research along the electricity easement. CA15 as it exists today has a complicated history of rural use, Government acquisition, urban development, and community action. References: • “Stokes Orchard, an incomplete history”; Russell Yeoman with Doug Orford • Correspondence, Beryl Bradbury (nee Stokes) • Aerial Photographs, 1931-1991, Landata (landata.vic.gov.au) • Certificate of Title, Vol. 4930 Fol. 985900 • Plan Number LP 10859 aerial photo, diosma road, eltham copper butterfly, eucalyptus road, ironbark close, nyora road, peppermint grove, peter & elizabeth pidgeon collection, power transmission lines, reynolds road, scarlet ash court, stokes orchard estate, stokes place, woodridge estate, frank stokes -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Aerial Photograph, Landata, Eltham; Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (Stokes Orchard Estate), Jan. 1984
Centred on present day Diosma Rd, Stokes Pl, Nyora Rd and Eucalyptus Rd Historic Aerial Imagery Source: Landata.vic.gov.au Aerial Photo Details: Project No :1716 Project : WESTERN PORT FORESHORES Run : 15 Frame : 70 Date : 01/1984 Film Type : B/W Camera : RC8 Flying Height : 5300 Scale : 10000 Film Number : 3833 GDA2020 : 37°42'38"S, 145°10'09"E MGA2020 : 338612, 5824719 (55) Melways : 22 D4 (ed. 42) A History of the Development of Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik – Stokes Orchard Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) is a square allotment of 158 acres or approximately a quarter of a square mile. It lies just beyond the eastern end of Pitt Street, south of Nyora Road to the northern end of Eucalyptus Road and extends east from Eucalyptus Road to Reynolds Road. The topography of CA15 is generally steep, sloping up to a hill near the centre of the land, the ridgeline passing through the properties along the southern side of Diosma Road. Eucalyptus Road is a straight north-south road with its northern end at the north west corner of CA15. Until the end of the 1970s this road was an un-named Government Road and was largely not open to traffic. With residential development in the 1970s the road was constructed, and the council allocated the name obviously in recognition of the predominant species of the local bushland. CA15 was purchased from the Crown by George D’Arley Boursiquot, a prominent Melbourne printer, on 28th October 1852. On November 23, 1922, former Member for Gippsland and Melbourne Real Estate Agent, Hubert Patrick Keogh purchased the allotment then sold it March 13, 1925, to local farmer, Robert David Taylor, a former Shire of Eltham Councillor (1911-1920) and Shire President (1919). Taylor had extensive land holdings stretching west towards Bible Street and Main Road. The Taylor home was situated at the top of the hill in Bible Street at present day 82 Bible Street. At the time of Taylor’s purchase in 1925, CA15 was subdivided into 48 lots that could be described as small rural properties or large residential lots. A typical lot size was one hectare or 2.5 acres. The subdivision created two roads, Nyora Road, and Diosma Road, each following an irregular alignment between Eucalyptus and Reynolds Roads. However, the lots were not sold off separately nor were the roads constructed. The land effectively remained as one parcel for many further years. Robert David Taylor died November 30, 1934, and probate was granted to his son of the same name, Robert David Taylor of Bible Street, Salesman and William McLelland Vance Taylor of 73 Emmeline Street, Northcote, Clerk, with the transfer of the land into their names on July 8, 1935. Frank Stokes worked as a qualified accountant at Kennons leather factory in Burnley, while living at 1 Thomas Street, Mitcham. He suffered from migraines and wanted to return to working the land (he had previously worked on farms and orchards since coming to Australia from England in 1926, both in WA and Vic.). He first travelled to the district by train in July 1942 to find land with the intention to establish an orchard. By chance he met Arthur Bird of Bird Orchard (bounded by Pitt Street, Eucalyptus Road, and Wattle Grove) and they got talking over their common interest. Arthur put Frank up for the night and pointed out the land, 158 acres- part of the Taylor Estate- £900, Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) somewhat diagonally opposite Bird Orchard. Stokes applied through the Riverina Agency to purchase the land who in turn applied for permission from Canberra to sell as there was a new government regulation introduced during the Second World War banning land sales except for immediate production. Stokes obtained a loan on his Mitcham house of £600 @ 5% and paid £450 deposit with quarterly payments of £15 spread over 5 years. Stokes was assisted and advised by Arthur Bird who farmed the neighbouring orchard. In early 1943 Stokes took possession and would catch the train out to Eltham on Fridays after work and began building a hut on the corner of Nyora Road and the Government Road (Eucalyptus Road) for shelter and to lock up tools. He established an orchard on the central western part of the land through the centre of which ran a natural waterway (part of the present-day linear park) and was able to pay a neighbour (Hawkins) to help with clearing and fencing 25 acres, and with a horse and single furrowed plough, planted approximately 2,500 fruit trees - cherries, peaches, plums, almonds, pears, apricots and lemons as well as a few apples and oranges; a massive task. Aerial photographs from the 1940s through to the 1990s clearly show the orchard with most of the larger CA15 site remaining as natural bushland. A huge problem was hares and rabbits eating all the new buds off the tiny trees. As well as laying poison he painted the trees with a mixture of cow manure and lime, often working by moonlight. Procurement of wire and wire netting was difficult because of the war but after much effort he obtained a permit from the Agricultural Department for supplies in March 1944. In February 1945 Stokes applied for a permit to build a “packing shed” as no house building was allowed. It was to be 33 feet x 21 feet and cost £312. It was constructed mostly from second-hand materials, which were hard to obtain, especially iron for roofing. Stokes finished work at Kennons on October 31, 1945, and in March 1946 he sold the family home at Mitcham for £1,230 plus £170 for furniture. On May 15, 1946, title to the CA15 property was issued to Frank Howard Alfred Stokes, Orchardist and Gladys Ethel Stokes, Married Woman, both of Pitt Street, Eltham. The family of five then moved into the very unfinished “packing shed” at Eltham, which was a struggle to weatherproof. Eventually rooms were divided off and lined with hessian bags and whitewashed. Their income was firewood (cut and sold), selling rockery stones and cut Sweet Bursaria. (It was discovered during the 1940s that Sweet Bursaria contained the sunscreen compound Aesculin. The RAAF utilised this compound from Sweet Bursaria during WW2 for pilots and gunners.) The orchard’s first fruit sale was a half-case of Le Vanq peaches in December 1947 for the price of 8 shillings. In 1956 plans for house were drawn and Glen Iris bricks purchased (1956 Olympic Rings variant). The building of the house commenced in 1957 - 12 feet of original packing shed was removed – and was completed in 1959. Water was connected from newly built pressure storage on the property at the end of 1959 and the electricity connection for the first time at 3pm on April 29, 1960. The house remains to present day (somewhat modified) at 1 Nyora Road, home to Nyora Studio Gallery. On occasions, spare remnants of the 1956 bricks have been known to be unearthed in gardens on the estate as they were utilised by Frank Stokes to fill in rabbit holes. On May 26, 1950, a parcel of land was compulsorily acquired by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works on the hilltop to establish an easement for a high-level service reservoir to augment Eltham’s water supply. The project also included pipe tracks for the necessary water mains. The reservoir has now been superseded by higher level water tanks east of Reynolds Road and its former site is now a public reserve. On November 27, 1964, the State Electricity Commission served notice to compulsorily acquire a further parcel through the eastern part of the land for a major electricity transmission line that augmented supply from the La Trobe Valley to Melbourne. The easement was registered February 11, 1966. The easement was widened July 18, 1969 for a second transmission line to be constructed. In 1971 Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme amendments adopted Nyora Road as the boundary between a residential zone to the north and a rural zone to the south. This determined the future development of the land. In the mid-1970s the Shire of Eltham divided the orchard into numerous rate-able parcel lots, the 48 lots having been established in 1925 and the subsequent rates assessment proved unsustainable for Stokes. He commenced selling lots outside the boundary of the orchard, north of Diosma and South of Nyora. However shortly later the land between Nyora and Diosma Roads and west of the electricity easement was sold and subdivided into residential lots, a housing development by Macquarie Builders and marketed as the Stokes Orchard Estate. New streets were created, and most were named after trees, although one, Stokes Place, commemorates the former owners. The development was undertaken in two stages; Stage 1 (1975) encompassing Scarlet Ash Court, Ironbark Close and Peppermint Grove bounded by Nyora and Eucalyptus roads and Stage 2 (1978) encompassing Stokes Place, Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout bound by Nyora and Diosma roads. The developer, Macquarie Builders went bankrupt shortly after the release of Stage 2 leaving many purchasers to fend for themselves and arrange for their own independent builders. There were also difficulties with sewerage for the land immediately south of Diosma Road and so the conventional residential lots were abandoned in favour of larger lots. The development of Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout did not proceed as planned and the proposed lots were incorporated into five-acre parcels instead. These included a low-density group housing development by the Graves family and the award winning Choong House (1983) with Gordon Ford developed garden immediately next door situated on the ridge of the hill nestled amongst the original bush, Eucalypt trees and Sweet Bursaria. In 1994, Nillumbik Shire Council applied Significant Environment and Significant Landscape overlays upon the properties on the south side of Diosma Road to ensure protection of this natural bush garden environment. With the arrival of the sewer along Diosma Road in the 1990s, most of these five-acre parcels have since been subdivided multiple times. The Choong house presently sits on a 2.7-acre property, which in 2022 Nillumbik Council nominated for Cultural Significance Heritage protection and is considered potentially significant at State level. The Stokes family were also associated with the Eltham Christian Church. In the 1970s this church had met in temporary premises in Eltham. Lots of the original 1925 subdivision remained south of Nyora Road and a number of these lots were utilized for the Eltham Christian School, which was established by the Eltham Christian Church in 1981. The school operated on this site until 2000. The premises are now used by The Vine Baptist Church. By the mid-1980s the whole of CA15 had been developed for residential and school purposes, except for the sections north of Diosma Road and between the transmission lines and Reynolds Road. Sewerage issues had been resolved for the section north of Diosma Road and in 1987 it was in the process of being subdivided into residential lots. The development coincided with the discovery of colonies of the rare and endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly on the site. This resulted in a community and political campaign to save the butterfly habitat. With the co-operation of the land developer the subdivision was altered to create two bushland reserves in the critical butterfly habitat areas. In the late 1980s the State Government was investigating options for establishing a metropolitan ring road link between Diamond Creek and Ringwood. The chosen route was adjacent to Reynolds Road and so this created a freeze on development of CA15 between Reynolds Road and the electricity easement. The ring road proposal was eventually abandoned, and this part of the land was subdivided into low density residential lots. Diosma Road has been discontinued at the electricity easement and the eastern part incorporated into View Mount Court with access from Reynolds Road. The whole of CA15 has now been developed for residential or associated purposes, ranging from conventional density to quite low density south of Nyora Road. Some remnants of the orchard remain, a few cherry trees on the Graves property and a lone apple tree in Stokes Place. The butterfly reserves comprise significant areas of remnant bushland. Linear reserves through the estate link with central Eltham via the Woodridge linear reserve and with Research along the electricity easement. CA15 as it exists today has a complicated history of rural use, Government acquisition, urban development, and community action. References: • “Stokes Orchard, an incomplete history”; Russell Yeoman with Doug Orford • Correspondence, Beryl Bradbury (nee Stokes) • Aerial Photographs, 1931-1991, Landata (landata.vic.gov.au) • Certificate of Title, Vol. 4930 Fol. 985900 • Plan Number LP 10859 aerial photo, diosma road, eltham copper butterfly, eucalyptus road, ironbark close, nyora road, peppermint grove, peter & elizabeth pidgeon collection, power transmission lines, reynolds road, scarlet ash court, stokes orchard estate, stokes place, woodridge estate, frank stokes -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph - Aerial Photograph, Landata, Eltham; Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (Stokes Orchard Estate), Mar. 1987
Centred on present day Diosma Rd, Stokes Pl, Nyora Rd and Eucalyptus Rd Historic Aerial Imagery Source: Landata.vic.gov.au Aerial Photo Details: Project No :1716 Project : WESTERN PORT FORESHORES Run : 15 Frame : 108 Date : 03/1987 Film Type : B/W Camera : RC10 Flying Height : 5600 Scale : 10000 Film Number : 4102 GDA2020 : 37°43'00"S, 145°10'13"E MGA2020 : 338725, 5824036 (55) Melways : 22 D5 (ed. 42)719 (55) Melways : 22 D4 (ed. 42) A History of the Development of Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik – Stokes Orchard Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) is a square allotment of 158 acres or approximately a quarter of a square mile. It lies just beyond the eastern end of Pitt Street, south of Nyora Road to the northern end of Eucalyptus Road and extends east from Eucalyptus Road to Reynolds Road. The topography of CA15 is generally steep, sloping up to a hill near the centre of the land, the ridgeline passing through the properties along the southern side of Diosma Road. Eucalyptus Road is a straight north-south road with its northern end at the north west corner of CA15. Until the end of the 1970s this road was an un-named Government Road and was largely not open to traffic. With residential development in the 1970s the road was constructed, and the council allocated the name obviously in recognition of the predominant species of the local bushland. CA15 was purchased from the Crown by George D’Arley Boursiquot, a prominent Melbourne printer, on 28th October 1852. On November 23, 1922, former Member for Gippsland and Melbourne Real Estate Agent, Hubert Patrick Keogh purchased the allotment then sold it March 13, 1925, to local farmer, Robert David Taylor, a former Shire of Eltham Councillor (1911-1920) and Shire President (1919). Taylor had extensive land holdings stretching west towards Bible Street and Main Road. The Taylor home was situated at the top of the hill in Bible Street at present day 82 Bible Street. At the time of Taylor’s purchase in 1925, CA15 was subdivided into 48 lots that could be described as small rural properties or large residential lots. A typical lot size was one hectare or 2.5 acres. The subdivision created two roads, Nyora Road, and Diosma Road, each following an irregular alignment between Eucalyptus and Reynolds Roads. However, the lots were not sold off separately nor were the roads constructed. The land effectively remained as one parcel for many further years. Robert David Taylor died November 30, 1934, and probate was granted to his son of the same name, Robert David Taylor of Bible Street, Salesman and William McLelland Vance Taylor of 73 Emmeline Street, Northcote, Clerk, with the transfer of the land into their names on July 8, 1935. Frank Stokes worked as a qualified accountant at Kennons leather factory in Burnley, while living at 1 Thomas Street, Mitcham. He suffered from migraines and wanted to return to working the land (he had previously worked on farms and orchards since coming to Australia from England in 1926, both in WA and Vic.). He first travelled to the district by train in July 1942 to find land with the intention to establish an orchard. By chance he met Arthur Bird of Bird Orchard (bounded by Pitt Street, Eucalyptus Road, and Wattle Grove) and they got talking over their common interest. Arthur put Frank up for the night and pointed out the land, 158 acres- part of the Taylor Estate- £900, Crown Allotment 15, Section 5, Parish of Nillumbik (CA15) somewhat diagonally opposite Bird Orchard. Stokes applied through the Riverina Agency to purchase the land who in turn applied for permission from Canberra to sell as there was a new government regulation introduced during the Second World War banning land sales except for immediate production. Stokes obtained a loan on his Mitcham house of £600 @ 5% and paid £450 deposit with quarterly payments of £15 spread over 5 years. Stokes was assisted and advised by Arthur Bird who farmed the neighbouring orchard. In early 1943 Stokes took possession and would catch the train out to Eltham on Fridays after work and began building a hut on the corner of Nyora Road and the Government Road (Eucalyptus Road) for shelter and to lock up tools. He established an orchard on the central western part of the land through the centre of which ran a natural waterway (part of the present-day linear park) and was able to pay a neighbour (Hawkins) to help with clearing and fencing 25 acres, and with a horse and single furrowed plough, planted approximately 2,500 fruit trees - cherries, peaches, plums, almonds, pears, apricots and lemons as well as a few apples and oranges; a massive task. Aerial photographs from the 1940s through to the 1990s clearly show the orchard with most of the larger CA15 site remaining as natural bushland. A huge problem was hares and rabbits eating all the new buds off the tiny trees. As well as laying poison he painted the trees with a mixture of cow manure and lime, often working by moonlight. Procurement of wire and wire netting was difficult because of the war but after much effort he obtained a permit from the Agricultural Department for supplies in March 1944. In February 1945 Stokes applied for a permit to build a “packing shed” as no house building was allowed. It was to be 33 feet x 21 feet and cost £312. It was constructed mostly from second-hand materials, which were hard to obtain, especially iron for roofing. Stokes finished work at Kennons on October 31, 1945, and in March 1946 he sold the family home at Mitcham for £1,230 plus £170 for furniture. On May 15, 1946, title to the CA15 property was issued to Frank Howard Alfred Stokes, Orchardist and Gladys Ethel Stokes, Married Woman, both of Pitt Street, Eltham. The family of five then moved into the very unfinished “packing shed” at Eltham, which was a struggle to weatherproof. Eventually rooms were divided off and lined with hessian bags and whitewashed. Their income was firewood (cut and sold), selling rockery stones and cut Sweet Bursaria. (It was discovered during the 1940s that Sweet Bursaria contained the sunscreen compound Aesculin. The RAAF utilised this compound from Sweet Bursaria during WW2 for pilots and gunners.) The orchard’s first fruit sale was a half-case of Le Vanq peaches in December 1947 for the price of 8 shillings. In 1956 plans for house were drawn and Glen Iris bricks purchased (1956 Olympic Rings variant). The building of the house commenced in 1957 - 12 feet of original packing shed was removed – and was completed in 1959. Water was connected from newly built pressure storage on the property at the end of 1959 and the electricity connection for the first time at 3pm on April 29, 1960. The house remains to present day (somewhat modified) at 1 Nyora Road, home to Nyora Studio Gallery. On occasions, spare remnants of the 1956 bricks have been known to be unearthed in gardens on the estate as they were utilised by Frank Stokes to fill in rabbit holes. On May 26, 1950, a parcel of land was compulsorily acquired by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works on the hilltop to establish an easement for a high-level service reservoir to augment Eltham’s water supply. The project also included pipe tracks for the necessary water mains. The reservoir has now been superseded by higher level water tanks east of Reynolds Road and its former site is now a public reserve. On November 27, 1964, the State Electricity Commission served notice to compulsorily acquire a further parcel through the eastern part of the land for a major electricity transmission line that augmented supply from the La Trobe Valley to Melbourne. The easement was registered February 11, 1966. The easement was widened July 18, 1969 for a second transmission line to be constructed. In 1971 Melbourne Metropolitan Planning Scheme amendments adopted Nyora Road as the boundary between a residential zone to the north and a rural zone to the south. This determined the future development of the land. In the mid-1970s the Shire of Eltham divided the orchard into numerous rate-able parcel lots, the 48 lots having been established in 1925 and the subsequent rates assessment proved unsustainable for Stokes. He commenced selling lots outside the boundary of the orchard, north of Diosma and South of Nyora. However shortly later the land between Nyora and Diosma Roads and west of the electricity easement was sold and subdivided into residential lots, a housing development by Macquarie Builders and marketed as the Stokes Orchard Estate. New streets were created, and most were named after trees, although one, Stokes Place, commemorates the former owners. The development was undertaken in two stages; Stage 1 (1975) encompassing Scarlet Ash Court, Ironbark Close and Peppermint Grove bounded by Nyora and Eucalyptus roads and Stage 2 (1978) encompassing Stokes Place, Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout bound by Nyora and Diosma roads. The developer, Macquarie Builders went bankrupt shortly after the release of Stage 2 leaving many purchasers to fend for themselves and arrange for their own independent builders. There were also difficulties with sewerage for the land immediately south of Diosma Road and so the conventional residential lots were abandoned in favour of larger lots. The development of Orchard Way, The Crest and The Lookout did not proceed as planned and the proposed lots were incorporated into five-acre parcels instead. These included a low-density group housing development by the Graves family and the award winning Choong House (1983) with Gordon Ford developed garden immediately next door situated on the ridge of the hill nestled amongst the original bush, Eucalypt trees and Sweet Bursaria. In 1994, Nillumbik Shire Council applied Significant Environment and Significant Landscape overlays upon the properties on the south side of Diosma Road to ensure protection of this natural bush garden environment. With the arrival of the sewer along Diosma Road in the 1990s, most of these five-acre parcels have since been subdivided multiple times. The Choong house presently sits on a 2.7-acre property, which in 2022 Nillumbik Council nominated for Cultural Significance Heritage protection and is considered potentially significant at State level. The Stokes family were also associated with the Eltham Christian Church. In the 1970s this church had met in temporary premises in Eltham. Lots of the original 1925 subdivision remained south of Nyora Road and a number of these lots were utilized for the Eltham Christian School, which was established by the Eltham Christian Church in 1981. The school operated on this site until 2000. The premises are now used by The Vine Baptist Church. By the mid-1980s the whole of CA15 had been developed for residential and school purposes, except for the sections north of Diosma Road and between the transmission lines and Reynolds Road. Sewerage issues had been resolved for the section north of Diosma Road and in 1987 it was in the process of being subdivided into residential lots. The development coincided with the discovery of colonies of the rare and endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly on the site. This resulted in a community and political campaign to save the butterfly habitat. With the co-operation of the land developer the subdivision was altered to create two bushland reserves in the critical butterfly habitat areas. In the late 1980s the State Government was investigating options for establishing a metropolitan ring road link between Diamond Creek and Ringwood. The chosen route was adjacent to Reynolds Road and so this created a freeze on development of CA15 between Reynolds Road and the electricity easement. The ring road proposal was eventually abandoned, and this part of the land was subdivided into low density residential lots. Diosma Road has been discontinued at the electricity easement and the eastern part incorporated into View Mount Court with access from Reynolds Road. The whole of CA15 has now been developed for residential or associated purposes, ranging from conventional density to quite low density south of Nyora Road. Some remnants of the orchard remain, a few cherry trees on the Graves property and a lone apple tree in Stokes Place. The butterfly reserves comprise significant areas of remnant bushland. Linear reserves through the estate link with central Eltham via the Woodridge linear reserve and with Research along the electricity easement. CA15 as it exists today has a complicated history of rural use, Government acquisition, urban development, and community action. References: • “Stokes Orchard, an incomplete history”; Russell Yeoman with Doug Orford • Correspondence, Beryl Bradbury (nee Stokes) • Aerial Photographs, 1931-1991, Landata (landata.vic.gov.au) • Certificate of Title, Vol. 4930 Fol. 985900 • Plan Number LP 10859 aerial photo, diosma road, eltham copper butterfly, eucalyptus road, ironbark close, nyora road, peppermint grove, peter & elizabeth pidgeon collection, power transmission lines, reynolds road, scarlet ash court, stokes orchard estate, stokes place, woodridge estate, frank stokes -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Jim Connor, Main Road, Eltham, 14 Jan 2017
... located on the north western corner. Tomorrow's history documented ...Eltham Gateway, Unit complex at 72-74 Bridge Street, Eltham at corner of Main Road. Before reconstruction of Main Road, this intersection had deep cutting embankments on all four corners. Roadworks and private development have levelled the land on the low side of the road. The Eltham War Memorial was originally located on the north western corner.Tomorrow's history documented todayeltham, jim connor collection, main road, eltham gateway, bridge street -
Eltham District Historical Society Inc
Book, The Man history forgot by Vivienne Worthington, 2018
Biography of Goldfields Commissioner Joseph Anderson Panton for whom Panton Hill was named for. The cover painting "J.A. Panton, Esq., PM" 1904 is by Frederick McCubbin. Sections in the book refer to : J. A. Panton CMG, Discovery of gold, 1854 Year of Exhibitions, Mining commission, Europe, Bohemia, art and marriage, artist in the western district, patron of Victorian Academy of Art, First Police Magistrate of city court, pioneer pastoralist, aboard the yacht "Cushie Doo", fellow of Royal Geographical Society, London, Inaugural President of Victorian Artists Society, Later Life of Joseph Panton.Softcover bookjospeh anderson panton, biography, frederick mccubbin, cushie doo (ship), gold discovery, police magistrate, victorian artists society -
Marysville & District Historical Society
Book - Hardcover book, Peter Evans, Rails to Rubicon-A History of the Rubicon Forest, 1994
Hardcover. Green dust cover. Front cover photograph is Krauss 0-4-OWT, builder's No. 2459 of 1891, takes water at the western end of Rubicon Lane in 1934. Driver Bob Rees attends to his engine while brakeman Hayden looks on. End papers show a photograph of a man standing besides a timber railway trolley holding onto the brake lever. There is a group of men, some sitting and some standing, on piles of cut timber under a large, open shed in the background. There are also some small, timber, tent like structures standing next to the railway tracks. There is a forest in the far background. Written in white is the line "Mr Clarke & Kidd's Sawmill". non-fictionrubicon, timber, sawmill, railway, tramway, clarke and pearce, evans, peter, marysville, krause, forest, mountain -
Marysville & District Historical Society
Book - Hardcover book, Rails to Rubicon-A History of the Rubicon Forest, 1994
A history of the Rubicon forestHardcover. Green dust cover. Front cover photograph is Krauss 0-4-OWT, builder's No. 2459 of 1891, takes water at the western end of Rubicon Lane in 1934. Driver Bob Rees attends to his engine while brakeman Hayden looks on. End papers show a photograph of a man standing besides a timber railway trolley holding onto the brake lever. There is a group of men, some sitting and some standing, on piles of cut timber under a large, open shed in the background. There are also some small, timber, tent like structures standing next to the railway tracks. There is a forest in the far background. Written in white is the line "Mr Clarke & Kidd's Sawmill".Stamp of the Marysville & District Historical Society Inc / PO Box 22 / Marysville 3779 Signed by the author, Peter Evansrubicon, timber, sawmill, railway, tramway, clarke and pearce, evans, peter -
Marysville & District Historical Society
Book, Education Department of Victoria, Vision and Realisation-A Centenary History of State Education in Victoria-Volume 3, 1973
... . education state education victoria history port phillip western port ...A centenary history of state education in Victoria.Red cover with the title and volume written on the spine in gold lettering. Both front and back inside covers have a photograph of 'The school at Drummond North' Photo: Geoff Mauger non-fictionA centenary history of state education in Victoria.education, state education, victoria, history, port phillip western, port phillip eastern, upper goulburn, goulburn, upper murray, east gippsland, west gippsland -
Federation University Historical Collection
Book - Book - Scrapbook, Ballarat College of Advanced Education: Scrapbook of newspaper cutting, Book 13; May 1983 to October 1983
Newspaper cuttings relating to Ballarat College of Advanced Education. These are from various newspapers and include The Age, Ballarat Courier, The Australian, The Herald. The cuttings cover the period from 23 May 1983 to 26 October 1983. . Book with beige cover, front. Spiral bound.employment advertisements, application for enrolment, outline of courses, deputation to see minister re gas levy, role for colleges, computing at bcae, engineering students may transfer, institutions fear information act, bust of prof smith presented to smb, western mining corporation awards, john de vries, ian carroll, wayne herbertson, soil conservationists, bust of dick richards, chinese actress visits ballarat, bcae host to hundreds, tertiary orientation program, russian violinist at founders hall, teachers not out of touch, employment prospects for teacher graduates, bcae open day, dr alan reid from csiro, short course on micro computers, victoria howlett potter, charles fahey on oral histories, computers becoming part of school system, mining raises living standards, antarctic oldtimer remembers, ethel reynolds - sculptor, tribute in bronze, dick richards, beaufort house 'home for students', jacqueline culvenor - potter, deaf and smart, `students condemn council sacking, brendan mcauley, jump rope for heart, students give papers on engineering projects, australians lucky says uk artist, selwyn hoffman shows in exhibition