John Batchelor of Thomastown, was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1851, and came to Victoria in 1857, by the ship Speedy. On leaving school, which he attended at Preston, he spent five years on the Barrabool Hills. He holds his present farm on a seven years’ lease, has four horses and other stock, &c.,, of the value of pounds 800. He married Miss Louisa Schnegula, a native of Germany, and had a family of seven children.
From Victoria and its Metropolis: Past and Present written in 1888 by Alexander Sutherland. p. 443
