Digital images of the former opening of the Merri River - now Kelly's Swamp.victoria, moyne, kelly's, swamp, former merri river, kelly's swamp, river, mouth, coast, ocean, illowa

No information has been found on the Commission Agent John Fitts except that he died at the Yarra Bend Asylum at the age of 51 and was formerly a resident of Ascot Vale, a suburb of Melbourne. His estate was valued at £600. Yarra Bend Asylum, near the junction of the Yarra River and the Merri Creek was the first institution for the mentally ill in Victoria and operated from 1848 to 1925. Tait collection: item 5 of 62This document is only of interest in that it came from the former legal offices of Mackay Taylor in Kepler Street, Warrnambool. It originally came from Thomas Goodall, a legal clerk in the office of the lawyer Ernest Chambers who passed it on to George Mackay, the lawyer in the forerunner firm of Mackay Taylor where it remained until the firm of Mackay Taylor ceased to exist and the buildings were cleaned out. This is a piece of parchment paper with printed black lines and handwritten material in black ink. There is a fold at the bottom of the document with a seal of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria attached by a green ribbon. The document is slightly discoloured but is otherwise in good condition. ‘In the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria, Probate jurisdiction, In the Estate of John Fitts, late of the Yarra Bend Asylum, formerly of Ascot Vale in the Colony of Victoria, commission agent, deceased intestate, Administration, Edwards and Perry, Proctors’yarra bend asylum, john fitts, warrnambool

The Rosebrook Cheese and Butter Factory was opened in November 1888 by Messrs Lydiard &T F Rutledge & was a cooperative factory managed by Mr. Goldie. It operated out of the former Rosebrook Flour Mill which was built on the banks of the Moyne River near the Rosebrook bridge in the late 1840s. In 1896 the factory commenced the production of the condensation of milk. The company closed in 1911. The building and machinery were sold in 1917. Rosebrook is situated about 20 kilometres from Warrnambool on the Princes Highway. This label is of some local significance as the Rosebrook Cheese and Butter factory operated for 30 years Rectangular dark blue and white label featuring text and a trade mark. The latter is circular with three cows pictured. There are decorations of flowers and leaves. The central area of the label is white with three lines. The label is adhered to a piece of pink card.FROM THE Rosebrook Cheese & Butter Factory Company Limited, MANUFACTURERS OF "PURUS BRAND CONCENTRATED MILK Rosebrook, Port Fairy. "PURUS" TRADE MARK FOR CONCENTRATED MILKrosebrook, cheese and butter, concentrated milk, lydiard, rosebrook butter factory

The Mahogany Ship is today regarded as a legend and refers to an ancient wreck that is purported to lie beneath the sand beside Armstrong Bay, several kilometres west of Warrnambool, Its location is currently unknown. For well over a century the mystery of this ship has fascinated Australians because the existence of such a vessel could throw a different light on the earliest phases of exploration of eastern Australia by Europeans. The story is that in January 1836 a party of whalers from Port Fairy travelled to the mouth of the Hopkins River in search of seals. Their boat overturned and one man was drowned. The three survivors were walking the 30 kilometres back to Port Fairy along the coast when, about halfway along, they discovered the wrecked ship in the dunes. It is said that Captain John Mills, who was in charge of the whaling station at Port Fairy promptly visited the wreck with several of his men, including Hugh Donnelly. Donnelly who was the originator of that version of events is now regarded as unreliable. Local history researcher Joan Fawcett believes Donnelly could not have visited the wreck in 1836 because he did not arrive in Victoria until 1841. The "mahogany" description can be traced to a letter from Port Fairy builder, architect and surveyor John Mason and published in the Melbourne Argus in 1876. He said he had seen the hull in 1846 and it "had the appearance of either cedar or mahogany." In 1884 Argus journalist `The Vagabond' wrote that the hull was built of "Spanish mahogany" and six years later Mason wrote another letter saying it might not have been mahogany but red gum or ironbark from New South Wales. He was too late with this new description as the wrecks mahogany tag was here to stay all through the hull was not visible as it had disappeared beneath the shifting sands by 1880. A more reliable account was later presented by the former editor of the Warrnambool Examiner, historian Richard Osburne, who wrote about the wreck in his book History of Warrnambool (published 1887). In it the author remembers to have noticed a wreck in the hummocks between Belfast and Warrnambool, in 1847 or 1848; he stated it was much nearer Warrnambool than Belfast, now known as Port Fairy, going on to state “in fact, it was only two or three miles from the former place, to the west of the big hummock which was supposed to fill Warrnambool Bay with drift sand washed by the Merri River before the cutting was made.” Osburne followed up with a letter to the Port Fairy Gazette on June 25, 1876, during a period of heightened interest in the wreck, although he was unsure of the provenance of the ship he went on to state in his letter. “The old wreck was, in fact, miles away from the Port Fairy beach, and only about four miles from Warrnambool. In the years 1847 and 1848. I have often seen the wreck and I regret to say I do not believe she was a foreign ship at all.”The ship model is significant for its association with the Warrnambool story of what is now referred to as the Mahogany Ship, an ancient shipwreck. The model is significant as it is an interpretation of a Portuguese caravel and possibly associated with the early history and exploration of Southern Australia. The model is a fine example of a hand crafted ship made from plans, not from a kit. Some of the materials used for the model are significant to the Gembrook community in that the timber used is a portion from a 30-meter pine tree that fell onto and destroyed the 120-year-old Gembrook church building. The model is also a dedication to Edward Kermond, who grew up in Warrnambool and claimed to have seen the shipwreck in the dunes when he was a lad in the late 19th century. (See note section of this document for further information on the creator and donation of the subject item).Ship model, an interpretation of a mahogany Portuguese carvel vessel in a glass display case with wood frame and a description plaque. Model is made from dark stained wood. The three masted vessel is fully rigged, with a Portuguese-like flag on mast. Plaque is rectangular, free standing on a pedestal. The model was handmade by Joe Hilder (Senior) in 1999 from flooring obtained from the Gembrook Uniting Church in Victoria. Inscriptions, hand written, under base of case and on plaque.Under base, black felt tip pen “Ship & Case made From / Flooring from Gembrook uniting Church, Flattened in 1999 / By Large Pine Tree.” On plaque, white paint "This interpretation of the Fabled Mahogany Ship was made by Joe Hilder, Gembrook Vic. is displayed in the memory of the late Edward Kermond (Ted) 1887-1973, a Warrnambool son who claimed to have seen the original ship as a child." flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff hill maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, ship model, mahogany ship, mahogany ship story, portuguese caravel, joe hilder, edward kermond, ted kermond, gembrook uniting church, gembrook storm 1999, port fairy whalers, belfast whalers