This book has been given by the Woodford Sunday School to Edith Cassady (note the misspelling of ‘Cassady’). Edith Cassady was the daughter of William and Elizabeth who lived at Boughton on the Merri River (near Cassady’s Bridge, Caramut Road today). This property was established about 1845. The donor of the book was William Wines, a member of a pioneering family in the Woodford district. This book is of some interest as it belonged to Edith Cassady, a member of a pioneering family who lived at Boughton on the Merri River. This is a hard cover book of 344 pages. The cover is red with black border decorations and black and gold lettering. There are several full page black and white illustrations scattered throughout the book which has 23 chapters of story. The cover and pages are much water-stained. The inscription is handwritten in black ink. ‘Woodford Sunday School Presented to Edith Cassidy (sic) by her well-wisher William Wines’ william wines, woodford, history of woodford, edith cassady, boughton property, cassady family

This book was written in 1801 in an epic poem form. It is unrhymed. It falls into the category of fantasy. The original owner of this book seems to have been John Bland. He is most important in the early history of Port Fairy and had a business in Port Fairy with John Cowtan (corn millers and general merchants). The Cowtans originally had land in the vicinity of the Cassady property of Boughton, Merri River (in Caramut Road near Cassady’s Bridge today) and were related by marriage to the Cassadys. A later owner of the book was William Anderson whose father came to the Yangery district in 1854 and established the property of Rosemount and William remained in this area until his death in 1909. The Andersons were related by marriage to the Cassadys and this book came to us following a clearance sale at the Cassady property, Boughton. This book is of great interest less for its literary content than for its ownership which probably dates back to the 1840s. It is associated with the families of Bland, Cowtan, Cassady and Anderson, all early settlers in Warrnambool and district.This is a brown leather-covered book of 271 pages. The cover has gold decorative borders and patterns and gold lettering. The pages are gilt-edged. The book is the fourth edition of volume one of a Robert Southey poem and has a Preface and Books 1 to 5 with Notes. The inscriptions are handwritten in black ink. One signature has not been deciphered. ‘Wm. Anderson’ ‘John Bland’ william anderson,, rosemount, william cassady, john bland, john cowtan, thalaba the destroyer, warrnambool, poem thalaba the destroyer, 19th century poems, robert southey books

This book belonged to John Cowtan. He was a purchaser of land near Cassady’s Bridge in Warrnambool and an important and early settler in Port Fairy. The land that John Cowtan selected was bought by Williaam Cassady whose sister, Ann, was married to John Cowtan. Cassady established the property, Boughton where Cassady’s Bridge is today. This book came from a Cassady estate sale early in the 21st century. Between 1839 and 1844 John Cowtan was a ship’s captain for John Griffiths, a shipowner and entrepreneur. In 1844 Cowtan established a merchant trading and produce business in Port Fairy with John Bland. In the 1860 John Cowtan went to live in Melbourne.This book is of great interest because of its early date (one year after the founding of Warrnambool) and because of its association with John Cowtan, a pioneer settler of Port Fairy with connections to Warrnambool.This is a brown leather cover book of 385 pages. The spine has gold lettering. The binding has come apart and has been mended with white cotton material on the inside of the cover. The insides of the cover have a brown, white, blue and yellow mottled pattern. The cover is stained and torn at the edges and has a deep gouging on the front. The first page has been torn and mended with tape and some of the pages are stained. There are two pressed fern fronds, one loose newspaper cutting and a bookmark with a sepia-coloured image, lace paper edges and coloured embroidery contained within the pages. The book has a preface and 58 chapters. The inscription is handwritten in black ink. ‘J. Cowtan 1848’ john cowtan, port fairy history, william cassady

This book was given as a Sunday School prize to James Cassady. The donor was William Wines. The Wines families were pioneers in the Woodford district. James Cassady was the son of William and Elizabeth Cassady and the family lived at Boughton on the Merri River (near Cassady’s Bridge, Caramut Road today). This property was established about 1845. Charley and Joe, whose names have also been written in the book, were James’ brothers. This book is of interest because it belonged to James Cassady, the son of pioneer settlers in Cassadys’ Bridge/Woodford area. This is a hard cover book of 220 pages with 32 extra pages at the back of the book giving information on other books produced by the same publisher. The cover is grey-green with gold lettering, green and black floral decorations and gold images of two men on horseback and a South American Indian chief. The spine is torn away at the top and the cover and pages are stained and crumpled. There are many black and white illustrations throughout the text, with the frontispiece protected by a piece of tissue. The inscriptions are handwritten in black ink and pencil.‘Woodford Sunday School presented to James Cassidy (sic) by his well-wisher William Wines’ (this is re-written underneath in pencil with the correct spelling of ‘Cassady’) ‘Chaley cassady, boughton, merri river (sic) “Joe’ james cassady,, boughton, william wines, woodford sunday school, history of warrnambool

These books appear to have been published in successive years as the inscription on one is 1875 and the contents of another deals with the history of India in 1878. The owner of the volumes was William Cassady (1824-1885).In 1846 he settled near the Merri River in the district that is today the Cassady's Bridge area in Caramut Road, Warrnambool. The property was called "Boughton". He married Elizabeth Anderson in 1857 and they had eleven children surviving to adulthood.These volumes are of antiquarian interest as they are an attractive example of the type of books owned by early settlers in the Warrnambool district. The activities of the British in India would have been of interest to settlers in other parts of the British Empire at that time. The books are also of interest as they belonged to William Cassady, a prominent early settler in the west Warrnambool area.These are five volumes of hard cover books with green covers and elaborate scrolls and decorations on the front covers and spines. The title lettering on the front covers is in black and gold. Each volume has several pages of black and white illustrations (steel engravings)at the front of the books, all with protective tissue paper. Some of the tissue paper is torn or missing. There are several coloured maps. The pages are gilt- edged.The third volume has the top part of the spine and binding torn away. The inscription in Volume Four is written in black ink.William Cassady, Boughton 1875william and elizabeth cassady