Edited transcript of interview with Heather Cox. I’m the eldest daughter of Evelyn Peachy and David Ennis. They were married in 1938 and they were together for quite a few years before they could afford to get married because there was no work around. He worked in a clay pit in Brunswick and they had […]
Melbourne’s historic homes: Banyule
The following is from an article (one in a series on Melbourne’s Historic homes) on Banyule Homestead published in The Age 28 April 1933. Completed in 1846, this was the home of Joseph Hawdon, overlander and pioneer settler The walls made of sandstone 3 feet thick were quarried on the site. There are no windows […]
Ivanhoe R.S.L.
This building was originally constructed for Fitzroy timber merchant Wallace Stone, by builder John W. Brown, in 1913-14 and was known as “Clairvue” Ivanhoe RSL acquired the building in August 1951. The building has been an important feature of the Ivanhoe landscape and is of local architectural significance. Perhaps the grandest of the early Queen […]
Hurstbridge Memorial Park and Hurstbridge Avenue of Honour
Hurstbridge Memorial Park and the Hurstbridge Avenue of Honour stand as memorials to local soldiers who served in WW1 and the spirit of the local community On Saturday 31 August 1919, residents and visitors from the city gathered at Dorset House to honour the soldiers who had died or fought in the First World War […]
The Pender’s Grove Racecourse
Michael Pender was one of the original purchasers of land at the Government sales in 1839 of what was to become the section of Northcote north of Beaver’s Road (south to Westgarth Street sold the following year, the elevated section bringing more than twice the price per acre). Pender paid 27/- per acre for his […]
Lone Pine at Eltham High
In 1998, Eltham High School students had the opportunity to plant a Lone Pine sapling, a descendant of the original tree from Gallipoli. A plaque was based nearby: The Lone Pine (descendant of the original tree from Gallipoli) in memory of those who sacrificed so much for our country Planted by Eltham High School Students […]
Exhibition Boot Company, Westgarth
Exhibition Boot Co History P Michell, 2019 Now somewhat forgotten, for some fifteen years arguably it was Northcote’s second largest employer. From 1902 to 1916 the Exhibition Boot Co occupied a factory between the former Northcote South Railway station and Ross St. At its peak it was employing some 160 people. Ion addition to manufacturing […]
What’s In A Name : Preston (or Irishtown?)
The Preston area from today’s Dundas Street north to the borders of today’s City of Whittlesea was divided by the New South Wales Government into 12 estates ranging from 312 to 1065 acres and sold at auctions on 12 September, 1838, and 1 August and 3 October, 1839, bringing prices ranging between 8/3d (83 cents) […]
Heidelberg 1888
The following is a description of Heidelberg published in Victoria and its metropolis, Volume 2 in 1888 p 732-733 by Alexander Sutherland “Heidelberg shire has an area of 41 square miles, and a population of 3000 persons. The district is cultivated for market gardening and vine and fruit growing, considerable dairy-farming being also carried on. […]
Viola Josephine Mann (1904-1972) – Invisible Farmer of Yan Yean
My Mother Viola Josephine Mann (maiden name McLaughlin) was born in Traralgon, Victoria on the 16th January, 1904. She was the daughter of Thomas Joseph McLaughlin and Elizabeth Therese Bushby. Her father, Thomas, was a shoemaker who had a shop in the small town of Trafalgar, in Gippsland, Victoria. In 1906, when Viola was two […]