Although claiming to be 42 years of age when he enlisted, Weir was actually 46 when he died of wounds on a hospital ship after being evacuated from Gallipoli. He was one of the oldest in our archives to have been killed and left a widow and three children, then living in Coburg. In a […]
World War 1 Casualty : Robert Jubilee Harris (Kangaroo Ground)
Harris’s death was not reported in the Evelyn Observer – perhaps understandably family grief played a part as his father, Robert senior was the proprietor of the newspaper! Harris was one the hundreds posted Missing following the offensive around Fromelles on the night of July 19, 1916 and declared Killed In Action as at that […]
World War 1 Casualty – Robert Meadows (aka Allan Cassell) (Eltham)
A somewhat bizarre case of a serviceman enlisting under his nephew’s name, the deception seemingly unknown to the A.I.F. until a letter from his father clarified the situation after his death. His sacrifice was commemorated on both the Eltham and Research War Memorials under the name of Meadows, but confusing the issue further is the […]
World War 1 Casualty : Harry Conway (Christmas Hills)
Harry Conway from “Penrith”, Christmas Hills died of wounds at Rouen, France on 28 April, 1918. Conway had certainly the most remarkable background of any serviceman from the-then Shire of Eltham to die in the Great War – born in the Singapore states, educated in India and having served four months Nigiri Volunteer Rifles before […]
Crispe Park
(The author’s thanks are extended to Bob Harris and Bob Chandler (Reservoir Football Club) and Dick Norris (Preston Cricket Club) for some of the material supplied within this chapter). ORIGINS Preston Oval has been a spiritual home for thousands, of senior players over the years since it was acquired in 1875, but for practical purposes, Crispe Park has been the […]
Victorian P-12 College of Koorie Education (former Glenroy High School, Box Forest campus), Glenroy campus
Victorian P-12 College of Koorie Education (former Glenroy High School, Box Forest campus), Glenroy campus. In the 1960s and 1970s the eight children in the Murray family (Diana, Stephen, Gary, Brian, Margaret, Wayne, Bev and Greg) attended Glenroy High School close to their home. They were the only Aboriginal children in the area and at […]
The Great War – State Schools
An Education Department 1920 publication commemorating teachers and staff that had served in the First World War had appendices showing how much each school had raised for the Department’s War Relief Fund. This was Metropolitan District Area 4; the complete list is given as an indication of the schools and their approximate size during the […]
Preston and Gowerville Park : A Timeline
(The featured image is from a 1906 postcard, taken from the Bruce Street end of the Park and believed to have been hand-colored and printed in Germany) Preston and the Park : A Time Line 1838-39 : The lands that were to become Preston are sold off at public auction – 12 lots rangingfrom 312 […]
Diamond Valley Library
Diamond Valley Library is managed by Yarra Plenty Regional Library and is one of two libraries in the Shire of Nillumbik. It is located beside the Shire of Nillumbik Civic Centre, Civic Drive, Greensborough. The original Greensborough Library was first opened in December 1973 by Member for Greensborough R.M. “Monty” Vale M.P. It was the […]
End of the Line
I was in the 7th Coburg Scout group which was based beside the public swimming pool in Pascoe Vale. In 1969 or 1970, four of us had to go on a two day hike as part of an achievement award. I can’t remember where the hike started from but by the time we reached our […]