Despite being the highest ranking and the oldest serviceman connected from Whittlesea to die in service during the Great War (and the only full-time soldier), Robert Garrick Wilson for some reason does not rate a mention on any of the Memorials erected around the Shire. Even more surprisingly, his considerable contribution to Australia’s war effort […]
Category: Whittlesea
Heather Jane Mann of Yan Yean
At She Oak Hill we lived a very basic life. There was no electricity in those days, but kerosene lamps. In the kitchen a big black urn sat on the stove with hot water for cups of tea or washing dishes. The water had to be carried by bucket from the corrugated iron tank in […]
Whittlesea’s Invisible Farmers
This story has been inspired by the Invisible Farmer Project. This is the largest ever study of Australian women on the land. It aims to create new histories of rural Australia, reveal the hidden stories of women on the land and document the diverse, innovative and vital role of women in agriculture. Yes, Whittlesea has […]
Portrait of Harriet
Harriet Wright was a pioneer and settler in the Plenty District. It is often difficult to find records of women at this time but for Harriet a hint of her pedigree is given on her headstone in Yan Yean Cemetery (Whittlesea): Sacred To the memory of HARRIET WRIGHT Second daughter of JOSEPH WRIGHT ESQ. Artist […]
WW1 Casualty : Harold Alexander Letch (Military Cross) (Donnybrook)
Harold Alexander Letch was the sole servicemen killed in the war to be linked to Donnybrook where he was born in 1894. Although Donnybrook does not appear to have been included within the Shire of Whittlesea when the Great War broke out, the little hamlet does form part of today’s City of Whittlesea – even […]
WW1 Casualty : Leslie Grierson, aka Vipont, aka Vipont-Birkett (Yan Yean)
In short, we can reveal Leslie Vipont, born in Doreen and raised in Yan Yean was killed in action while serving as S/9868, Private, with the Seaforth Highlanders Regiment of the British Expeditionary Force in France on 10 July, 1916. That seems a simple summary, but his background is undoubtedly right up there as one of the most […]
Sth Morang’s Futuro House
The Futuro House was designed in 1968 by a Finnish architect. He wanted to predict how we might live in the future. It was commissioned as a ‘holiday house’ or vacation home. It is just over 26 feet in diameter and came completely equipped with custom furnishings that fit the interesting shape of this house. […]
The Whittlesea, Humevale, Kinglake, Hazeldene bushfire – 7th February 2009
Saturday morning on the 7th February 2009 was forecast to be extremely hot and it was. In Whittlesea, the weekend was going to be devoted to the Country Music Festival. This was to be a three day event, starting at the Council “TajMahal” building with a reception and a bun fight for celebrities. Then on […]
7th February 2009
The hot sun blazed down on Church Street Whittlesea on the Country Music Show. Singers and musicians and dancers and a happy crowd sweltered in the sun’s fierce glow. While they enjoyed themselves, despite the heat, no one in that crowd’s imagination dreamed that many miles away, a spark would start this massive conflagration. It […]
The Last Man to Leave Gallipoli
By Anne Course The approaching 100 year anniversary of the landing at Gallipolli put my head in a spin, my Grandfather had volunteered, what was his experience and how did it effect his life. I was I like a dog with a bone, can’t let is go until I have all the information possible and […]