J.T Minns was president of the Shire Council from 1923-24 Isaac Robinson was president of the Shire Council from 1924-25. The Robinson family lived in the area. The following is from 100 Years at Melton: Isaac and Henrietta Robinson. Jeanette nee Rohner Robinson 1985. Creighton Melton. The Robinsons of Wyndham William Robinson married Ann Bee in 1952, Weardale, Durham England. They arrived in Australia on the ship “Ben Nevis” in 1852. They settled in Wyndham in 1855 and began dairying and haygrowing. They bought 50 acres and rented 300 acres until buying 300 acres in 1872 – Mt Pleasant Farm. Their children were sent to school even though Ann had been a school teacher in England. The older boys had to travel 5 ½ miles to Mt Cotterell school before one was built at Tarneit, a mile from their home. The children of William and Ann: George, Thomas, William, Isaac, Mary Ann, Mary Ann , John and Thomas. Thomas moved to Melton aged 19. When Ann died in 1898 Mt Pleasant farm was let then sold about 1920. In 1872 William Snr bought more land in Melton. William, Isaac and George worked on the land until 1887 when George and Isaac bought more land in Melton Creighton. Thomas and John also bought adjoining land. Outside Shire Offices, High Streetcouncil, local identities

William Crozier was born 1823 in County Armagh, Ireland. Mary Jane Vance was born 1829 in Desecrete, County Tyrone, Ireland. They were married in 1848. On New Year's Eve, 1849, together with their baby daughter Sarah, William and Mary embarked from Plymouth aboard the Eliza Caroline, as assisted immigrants, for Port Phillip, arriving 31 March 1850 from where they journeyed out to Eltham on a bullock wagon. The Croziers were Episcopalians and soon after arriving in Eltham the Wesleyans of Little Eltham were holding services in the Crozier's home, among other locations. It was not until January 1856 that the Wesleyan church first acquired land in Henry Street for a chapel, which later became the home of the Eltham Hall. The Crozier home, known as ‘Belmont’ was weatherboard with a rammed earth floor. It was situated on twenty-four acres along the track at its rise, about half-a-mile east of Maria Street (Main Road) bounded by Mt Pleasant Road on the south and Pitt Street northwards. William Crozier used the land for cultivation and grazing. The track the Eltham Wesleyans took, by foot or horse, was along the Mt Pleasant Road, and like most roads of the time, a dusty trail in summer and a hoof and cart rutted quagmire in winter. William and Mary Crozier had seven children: Sarah, (1848 Ireland), John McClelland (1851 Eltham), Eliza (1855 Eltham), William (1857 Eltham), Jane(1859 Yarraville), Charlotte Amelia (1861 Yarraville), and Thomas Vance (1864 Eltham). The Crozier farm prospered and in 1870, William applied for, and was granted a leasehold on an additional sixty-three-acre selection, half-a-mile east of his twenty-four-acre Mt Pleasant Road property. Upon this property he built a two-roomed dwelling of slats and bark and a storeroom of log and bark, ten feet square. In 1880 he applied for a Crown grant of the property. Tragedy struck the family in 1882 when the youngest, Thomas Vance at age 17 accompanied by John Anderson, went into "Hall's Dam" to bathe, neither of them being able to swim. On wading out together, Crozier suddenly slipped into a part about 10ft. deep, and sank, after rising only once. Anderson pluckily tried to save him, nearly losing his own life in the attempt, saving himself when sinking for the last time by seizing hold of a projecting root. The body was not recovered until two hours after, when Mr. Thomas Bell, a farmer in the locality, who was attracted to the spot, on hearing of the occurrence, although unable to swim, plunged in with a rope around his waist, and succeeded with some difficulty in bringing it to the surface. Their eldest son, John also died prematurely at age 42 when he was killed by a falling tree branch whilst engaged in ring-barking trees at Eltham. A still cold wind was blowing and John, and others who were working with him, sheltered themselves at lunch time by sitting on the side of a large tree. When thus seated, the wind detached a limb of the tree which sheltered them, and though they heard the cracking, they had not time to get clear before the limb fell. It struck John on the head, and felled him to the ground, He appeared to be suffering severe pain, and two of his companions conveyed him to the Melbourne Hospital, where during the night he was operated upon for a fracture of the skull. Despite the operation being successful, John ultimately succumbed to his injuries the following afternoon. In good times William was known for his wealth of reminiscences of the early days of the district however his health failed him for several years until his death in March 1909. He was a man of very industrious habits, of a retiring disposition and much esteemed by those who knew him best. Mary died in January 1915 after a long illness. They are buried together along with their sons John and Thomas in the Eltham Cemetery. In Loving Remembrance William Beloved husband of Mary Jane Crozier Who departed this life March 31st 1909, aged 85 years Also Mary Jane Beloved wife of the above Who departed this life January 3rd 1915, aged 86 years Also John McCelland Son of the above Who departed this life May 20th 1894, aged 42 years also Sacred Memory of Thomas Vance Dearly beloved son of William J. Crozier Who departed this life at Eltham, February 3rd 1882 Aged 17 yearseltham cemetery, gravestones, memorials, film - kodak gold gc 400-9, john mccelland crozier, mary jane crozier (nee vance), scan - 35mm negative, thomas vance crozier, william crozier, william j crozier

William Crozier was born 1823 in County Armagh, Ireland. Mary Jane Vance was born 1829 in Desecrete, County Tyrone, Ireland. They were married in 1848. On New Year's Eve, 1849, together with their baby daughter Sarah, William and Mary embarked from Plymouth aboard the Eliza Caroline, as assisted immigrants, for Port Phillip, arriving 31 March 1850 from where they journeyed out to Eltham on a bullock wagon. The Croziers were Episcopalians and soon after arriving in Eltham the Wesleyans of Little Eltham were holding services in the Crozier's home, among other locations. It was not until January 1856 that the Wesleyan church first acquired land in Henry Street for a chapel, which later became the home of the Eltham Hall. The Crozier home, known as ‘Belmont’ was weatherboard with a rammed earth floor. It was situated on twenty-four acres along the track at its rise, about half-a-mile east of Maria Street (Main Road) bounded by Mt Pleasant Road on the south and Pitt Street northwards. William Crozier used the land for cultivation and grazing. The track the Eltham Wesleyans took, by foot or horse, was along the Mt Pleasant Road, and like most roads of the time, a dusty trail in summer and a hoof and cart rutted quagmire in winter. William and Mary Crozier had seven children: Sarah, (1848 Ireland), John McClelland (1851 Eltham), Eliza (1855 Eltham), William (1857 Eltham), Jane(1859 Yarraville), Charlotte Amelia (1861 Yarraville), and Thomas Vance (1864 Eltham). The Crozier farm prospered and in 1870, William applied for, and was granted a leasehold on an additional sixty-three-acre selection, half-a-mile east of his twenty-four-acre Mt Pleasant Road property. Upon this property he built a two-roomed dwelling of slats and bark and a storeroom of log and bark, ten feet square. In 1880 he applied for a Crown grant of the property. Tragedy struck the family in 1882 when the youngest, Thomas Vance at age 17 accompanied by John Anderson, went into "Hall's Dam" to bathe, neither of them being able to swim. On wading out together, Crozier suddenly slipped into a part about 10ft. deep, and sank, after rising only once. Anderson pluckily tried to save him, nearly losing his own life in the attempt, saving himself when sinking for the last time by seizing hold of a projecting root. The body was not recovered until two hours after, when Mr. Thomas Bell, a farmer in the locality, who was attracted to the spot, on hearing of the occurrence, although unable to swim, plunged in with a rope around his waist, and succeeded with some difficulty in bringing it to the surface. Their eldest son, John also died prematurely at age 42 when he was killed by a falling tree branch whilst engaged in ring-barking trees at Eltham. A still cold wind was blowing and John, and others who were working with him, sheltered themselves at lunch time by sitting on the side of a large tree. When thus seated, the wind detached a limb of the tree which sheltered them, and though they heard the cracking, they had not time to get clear before the limb fell. It struck John on the head, and felled him to the ground, He appeared to be suffering severe pain, and two of his companions conveyed him to the Melbourne Hospital, where during the night he was operated upon for a fracture of the skull. Despite the operation being successful, John ultimately succumbed to his injuries the following afternoon. In good times William was known for his wealth of reminiscences of the early days of the district however his health failed him for several years until his death in March 1909. He was a man of very industrious habits, of a retiring disposition and much esteemed by those who knew him best. Mary died in January 1915 after a long illness. They are buried together along with their sons John and Thomas in the Eltham Cemetery. In Loving Remembrance William Beloved husband of Mary Jane Crozier Who departed this life March 31st 1909, aged 85 years Also Mary Jane Beloved wife of the above Who departed this life January 3rd 1915, aged 86 years Also John McCelland Son of the above Who departed this life May 20th 1894, aged 42 years also Sacred Memory of Thomas Vance Dearly beloved son of William J. Crozier Who departed this life at Eltham, February 3rd 1882 Aged 17 yearsBorn Digitaleltham cemetery, gravestones, john mccelland crozier, mary jane crozier (nee vance), thomas vance crozier, william j crozier

Fred looks back; Report: Linley Hartley, Picture: Ron Grant Teaching himself German again after 70 years is just one of the many tasks Fred Golgerth, of Greensborough, has undertaken and succeeded in during his lifetime. As the two year old tenth child of a German descendent, Fred learnt to speak German from an Aunt. But World War 1 was raging. Fred’s older brother had gone to Europe with the Australian forces, changing his name … to ….. to sound less German. “I used to get my bottom slapped for speaking German at home,” Fred said. Even his name was changed from Otto to the more anglicised Frederick. Fred claims his involvement with Eltham started two years before he was born! His sister, two years older than him, was a babe in arms when his parents bought a piece of grazing property in Mount Pleasant Rd. “It was about 24 acres on a spur of Mt Pleasant,” Fred said. “My parents bought it from Mr and Mrs Hughes. There was a two-room mud hut in wattle and daub that we lived in from time to time. “My parents had a dairy farm and dairy in West Coburg, and they bought the Mt Pleasant land to put the dry stock on. “At one stage my mother got very ill and my older sister took my younger sister and myself to Eltham for four or five months. I went down to Eltham Primary School then.” That wasn’t the only time Fred stayed in Eltham. His sister, Wilhemina, known as Willa, married Jim Watson who had the Eltham hotel for some years from the end of World War 1. Pillar to post living was the way Fred described his youth, when he stayed with one married sister after another. “After a while Will and Jim lived in the big house at the top of Pitt St, next to the Council depot, and the hotel was managed by Fitzsimmons who had a big place near the river down there on Fitzsimons Lane. There was no bridge in Fitzsimons Lane but we used to cross the river at a ford, rolling up our trouser legs so they wouldn’t get wet, and carrying our shoes. I’d o down to visit some friends I had in Templestowe. And sometimes Jim Watson took his horse drawn lorry across the ford on his way to the brewery, instead of going don through Heidelberg.” “The bridge across the Yarra in Fitzsimons was not built until 1961.” Fred Golgerth, was only a teenager when he was rolled off his pushbike under a car on the bend between Mt Pleasant Rd and the Diamond Creek bridge. He was hospitalised in the little hospital on the east side of Eltham village that served the district in those days. He still carries the scars of the burns he received from the exhaust pipe and recent x-rays have revealed several broken vertebrae. At the time of the accident he was treated for a dislocated neck and was in plaster from his hip to the base of his head for about seven months. But nothing daunted Fred. Bouncing back he began work as an apprentice to a motor mechanic in Bell St, Preston, a man who is still living (at 90) in Queensland and who still communicates with Fred frequently. “He was like a father to me,” Fred declared. He was a marine engineer as well, so I …. that as well as blacksmithing. They taught us properly then.” After finishing his apprenticeship, Fred bought himself a 30 hundredweight Fargo truck and began his own contract carting business, doing most of the work for a firm called Carnegie’s and a subsidiary of that, Howard Radio. It was in the office Fred met his wife. “He taught me to drive the truck giving me lessons in my lunch hours up the Bourke St and Flinders St extension,” she said. “After work I’d have a driving lesson and all the girls from the Howard Radio would pile in the back to get a lift to Richmond Station.” In the 1939 bushfires, the Mt Pleasant Rd property was burnt out and the hut raised. Two years later, Fred and Dorothy were married. Fred paid £7.15.0 ($15.50) for the suit in which he was married. Dorothy had pulled out of the Women’s Air Training Corps to be married. Others with whom she trained went to Darwin and were in a convoy that was bombed. Fred went into the garage business in Brighton and continued his cartage business for a while. His company was employed to do all Brown Gouge’s motor repairs and factory maintenance. Because Fred had a certificate to do steam repair work he often got jobs maintaining industrial boilers. While he was in Brighton, Fred bought an eight-seater 1925 Silver Ghost Rolls Royce from Sir Keith Murdoch. When the couple moved to Rosanna in about 1943, it became a delivery van for the dairy they operated. “I thought I’d like to get back into a dairy business” Fred said. “We used to deliver the milk in the Rolls. “But it was hard work. We couldn’t get the labour and we’d drive to the farm and pick up the milk cans, take them back to the dairy, cool the milk, bottle it and deliver it. The inspectors would come regularly and the walls for bacteria.” Fred was exhausted. The couple gave up the dairy and moved to Eltham to live on the old property where a weatherboard house had now been built. It wasn’t a big house and the glassed in Rolls Royce limousine became the daytime nursery for the Golgerth’s second daughter. We’d put her in there to sleep during the day.” “Dorothy Golgerth was known to drive the Rolls at breakneck speed along Mt Pleasant Rd. Fred took some time off work then began driving a little local bus run by the Lyon Brothers before taking a maintenance job at the Athenaeum Club in the city. He’d ride an old Harley-Davidson to the station and travel into the city by train. Later, when the family moved to Pryor St. (their house stood where McEwans car park is now) Fred could walk to and from the station. “There was no resident doctor in the early days of Eltham,” Fred said. “Dr Cordner used to come from Greensborough to a room in the old house next to the old grocery shop on the corner of York St and Main Rd, Eltham (the grocery shop is now the Eltham Feed and Grain Store). The Golgerths lived in Eltham until “Dollar Day” – the day decimal currency became official. They eventually moved to Greensborough, when they have lived since. Fred has had his share of interesting jobs since then, retiring at 65 seven years ago when he was working in the engineering department at Larundel. Recently, two of his older sisters and a brother died, within a month. They were all in their 80s. They all had a profound influence on Fred, especially during his youth. His sharp wit and amusing anecdotes are the richer for his having been the youngest of a family that made the best of every circumstance. And now, as he enjoys his retirement, he is concentrating on relearning the language of his infancy; teaching himself German from tapes and a ‘teach yourself’ manual. He is fiercely proud of his German ancestry and treasures the diary, written in German in Gothic script, kept by his grandparents during their journey to Australia. On the inside in blue pen: "To Sadie, Wal Margaret & Elizabeth with lots & lots of love & best wishes from Mother"marg ball collection, eltham hotel, herbert james watson, otto (fred) golgerth, wilhemina watson (nee golgerth)

In 1905 Walter Jones bought twenty five acres of land in Mt Pleasant Road Nunawading South to establish a flower farm. Plants and flowers were transported to the city by rail. In 1957 some of the land was sold to the Education Dept to erect the Nunawading South Primary School.Black and white copy of Walter Jones with a barrow load of flowers.walter jones, jones flower farm.

Refer to Jones Flower Farm NP4498The Jones house at the flower farm in Mt Pleasant Road Nunawading. Overgrown garden at front of house.jones flower farm, mt pleasant road nunawading

Jones Flower Farm Refer NP4498jones flower farm, mt pleasant road nunawading

Refer to Jones Flower Farm NP4498Black and white photocopy of the Jones Family. Walter is in the middle.mt pleasant road nunawading, jones flower farm

Black and white photograph of Jones family home on flower farm in Mt Pleasant Road Nunawading. Now site of Nunawading South Primary School.jones, bette, mount pleasant road, nunawading, nunawading south primary school no. 4808

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of rows of daffodils growing in Jones' Flower Farm in 1928. in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of daffodils growing on Jones' Flower Farm, in 1928, in Mt Pleasant Road Nunawading.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of reflections in the dam on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1928.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of cow in dry out dam on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1932.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of Keith Jones working in the Jones's Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading in 1930jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of rows of dahlias growing in Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1930.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of gladiolis growing on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant, Road, Nunawading.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of agapanthus growing in Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading in the early 1930s.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of liliums growing on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1935.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of dahlias growing Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in1935.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of hydrangeas growing Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1930.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of rhododendrons growing on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, Also shown is the Azalea Shade House.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of the Cookfield children on 'Jack', the Jones' farm horse. Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading,jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading, cookfield children

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of Arthur with daughter Muriel Jones in a horse and buggy, drawn by their pet horse 'Jack',on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1936.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of Azalea sheds and bulb storage shed on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, taken from windmill.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of the Lorraine Lee Roses growing on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1940.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of Scarlet Flower Gum, sweet pea and ageratum growing on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading,jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of the orchard house on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in the 1950s.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of the construction of the Orchid House on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1946.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading

Jones Family Collection - NP2565 to NP2606. See also ND3831.Black and white photograph of Cymbidium Orchids growing in the Orchid House on Jones' Flower Farm in Mt Pleasant Road, Nunawading, in 1948.jones, bette, walter, rolf, geoffrey, arthur, keith, lionel, muriel, jones flower farm, mount pleasant road nunawading