Horse drawn carts & drays were commonly used by early farmers of the Plenty Valley for general farm use. This 1880’s cart spent its working life in the ownership of the Hurrey family at the historic “Craigie Lee” farm, Yan Yean. It was used to carry sheaves of oaten hay and cans of milk from […]
Tag: Farming
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 […]
ReCollection – Farm life, adventure and strife
Edited transcript of the interview with Heather Cox. I was brought up with lots of animals. There were draft horses, a cow, geese, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, and it was basically a farm. I was surrounded by aunts and uncles cousins and I had the best childhood ever. I was brought up in West Street […]
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 […]
Farming in the Shire of Eltham
by Ross MacMillan This article first appeared in the Eltham District Historical Society May 2015 newsletter and is reproduced here with permission of the author The area known originally as the Shire of Eltham lies on the wooded southern slopes and along the valleys of the Great Dividing Ranges. It is drained by the Plenty and […]
Tack’s waterwheel
The following are reminscences by Whittlesea resident John McPhee: “A few things I remember or have been told: Lee Tack was a tall man and had been trained as a doctor in China; he came to Australia looking for gold, he found a nugget shaped like a man on a horse. At its peak it […]
Peck’s dam Montmorency
This man-made dam, located between Napier Crescent and Pedersen Way, was built in the early 1900’s to service the surrounding farmland. It came to be named after the Peck family who lived in an adobe house next to the dam from the 1950’s until the 1970’s. The dam is about three quarters the size of […]
Lade Family at Edendale Farm
I believe it likely that my great- grandmother, Mrs. Annie Lade, (nee McConchie) with her son Norman Leslie (Les), and daughter Mary (Maimie) lived at Edendale farm for a period in 1910. I base this on family stories and some minor but incomplete research. 1910, Annie Lade with Les and Maimie, moved from” The Pines”, […]
Chinese market gardens
The first Chinese market gardens appeared in Northcote in 1887. The Chinese had arrived in Victoria in large numbers during the 1850s gold rushes and many stayed after the rushes ended. German settlers had been operating market gardens in Northcote since at least the early 1860s but in 1887 they sold their holdings to the […]