This book was given as a prize in 1892 to Joseph Cassady from the Cassady’s Bridge State School. This school, once located near Cassady’s Bridge on the present-day Caramut Road, was opened on 19th January 1891 and closed in December 1892. The first teacher was Janet Ada McDougall and the teacher when the school closed was J. H. Delahenty. The Cassady family had the farm, Boughton and this was established about 1845 on the Merri River near where the bridge is today. Joseph was born in 1882 to William and Elizabeth Cassady.This book is of considerable importance as it is the only memento we have of Cassady’s Bridge State School. This school only existed for two years.This is a hard cover book of 208 pages. The cover is green with coloured borders and a coloured sketch of a stream and a bridge. The lettering on the front cover and the spine is gold and the pages are gilt-edged. The cover is much faded. Some of the back pages are partly torn away. The book has two black and white sketches at the front of the book and 28 chapters of story. The inscription is handwritten in black ink and the inscription page is stained. ‘State School Cassady’s Bridge Xmas 1892 Presented to Joseph Cassady 3rd Class for Good Progress. J.H. Delahenty Head Teacher’ cassady family, boughton, history of warrnambool

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

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