Narre Warren and Narre Warren North - aerial and road photographs from the 1980s.

These photographs of Narre Warren and Narre Warren North were taken by the City of Berwick in the 1980s. In the thirty years since these photographs were taken the area has changed considerably, especially the areas shown in the last two photographs. 

Aerial of Narre Warren North Road and Memorial Drive, Narre Warren North, looking south west. Narre North Road is shown coming in from the top left (or south) of the picture. 

 Photograph labelled 'Grantchester Road Estate.' Grantchester Road runs between Avonwood Road and Belgrave-Hallam Road in Narre Warren North. 

Narre Warren North aerial showing Heatherton Road. From the centre right Heatherton Road intersects with - Narre Warren North By-pass Road; Randle Court on the left, with Casdar Court running off  it. Tom Jones Court is on the right. The street coming off at an angle is Main Street. The last intersection at the bottom left is Memorial Avenue. 

Photograph is labelled 'Narre Warren North By-Pass Road, looking west'. The court on the right side of the picture is Tandderwen Court, which runs off Tom Jones Court. The road running to the top (or west) of the photograph is Heatherton Road. 

Narre Warren Caravan Park, now known as Casey Gardens Residential and Tourist Village. It is bordered by Centre Road/Fullard Road, Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, the Gippsland Railway line to the north and the Narre Warren Creek to the west. The intersection at the top left of the picture is of Narre Warren- Cranbourne Road and the Princes Highway. The trees at the very top.are part of the Narre Warren Recreation Reserve

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 Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, looking south, at the intersection of  Fullard Road and Saxonwood Drive. This is also shown in the aerial above.

 Vehicle turning into Pound Road from Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, Narre Warren. 

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Light Horse and Field Artillery Museum at Nar Nar Goon North

Every three months the Local History Reference Group (LHRG) meets.  The LHRG consists of members of the heritage groups in the City of Casey and Shire of Cardinia, a  Councillor from each municipality, Council Officers, the Information Services Librarian and the Local History Librarian (that's me!) of the Casey Cardinia Library Corporation. We talk about heritage matters, undertake joint projects and have the opportunity to network. We held our recent meeting at the Light Horse and Field Artillery Museum  at 200 Bessie Creek Road, Nar Nar Goon North. The Museum is owned by Bernie Dingle, who is also the curator.

The Museum has an interesting collection of  restored First World War horse-drawn transport vehicles and a large collection of First and Second World War equipment and weapons. There are also exhibits on two Victoria Cross winners, Major J.H Bisdee and Lieutenant F.H Tubb.

There is also an extensive collection of Honour Boards, from businesses and banks, which Bernie has restored. Many of these were turfed out in the 1980s by uncaring corporations, rescued by Anzac House and then passed onto Bernie to preserve for the future. It was obviously important at the time that the businesses recorded the names of their staff who served in both Wars  and we should be grateful to Bernie that he has given the time and energy to the community to preserve these boards or they would have been lost forever

The Museum is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm seven days a week, but ring first on 03 5942 5512. Group visits are welcome.  With the centenary of the commencement of World  War One in 2014 and then the centenary of Gallipoli in 2015 this collection of World War One material will have an even more important role in our history and will be  a valuable resource helping us understand the impact the war had  on the Australian community. This is the website of the Museum http://www.lighthorsemuseum.com.au/

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Old Cheese Factory in Homestead Road

The Old Cheese Factory Complex consists of three c.1875 buildings and a number of re-located other buildings. It is the three 1875 buildings that are of historical significance. The whole complex was once part of The Springs property (later called Springfield). The first owner of this property was Sir William John Turner Clarke (1805-1874) or ‘Big Clarke’ although it is unlikely that he ever actually lived at the property. Clarke and his wife Elizabeth (nee Dowling 1801-1878) had arrived in Hobart in 1829. Clarke set himself up as a butcher, was granted 2,000 (809 hectares) acres of land, ran cattle and sheep and by 1853 he owned 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) of land in Tasmania.

However, Clarke did not confine his property acquisitions to Tasmania and in 1837 he shipped 1,600 ewes across Bass Strait to Victoria and soon acquired pastoral leases of 30,000 acres (12,600 hectares). Five years later he set up a boiling downs work and progressively acquired more land including around 60,000 acres (about 25,000 hectares) which went from Sydney Road to Sunbury.

In 1850, he moved to Victoria and in 1854 acquired this land in Berwick which was apparently used as holding or fattening paddocks for his Gippsland cattle.  Clarke was also the member for the Southern Province in the Legislative Council from 1856 until 1870 and had shareholdings in various banks and insurance companies. He died at his home in Essendon in 1874. He left an estate of £2,500,000 as well as 215,000 acres (87, 000 hectares) of free hold land. His will left £800 per annum to his wife, from whom he was living apart and his Victorian properties went to his son William John. These properties were valued at £1,500,000.

Sir William John Clarke (1831-1897)  was born in Tasmania and educated in both Tasmania and England. When he returned from England he worked on his father’s properties in both Tasmania and Victoria. He married Mary Walker in 1860 and they lived in Victoria at Sunbury and also had a house in St Kilda.  They had four children and Mary  died in 1871. Two years later he married Janet Snodgrass and they had seven children. In 1874, he built the mansion Rupertswood at Sunbury. Clarke represented the Southern Province in the Legislative Council from 1878 to 1897 and became a Baronet, a hereditary title, in 1882.

However of more importance to us is that Sir William had an interest in and encouraged scientific farming.  Clarke was on the Committee of the Ballarat Agricultural Society and the West Bourke Agricultural Society and he gave prizes for the best exhibits at shows. Clarke gave his tenants long leases at moderate rents and encouraged them to be progressive. Clarke built a model cheese factory and also provided  state of the art cheese making machines. His cheese maker was Murdoch McDonald.

The Cheese Factory was specially designed by architect G Browne. The lower floor of the two storey dairy structure was used for the making of the cheese and the upper floor for its storage and maturation.  The building was designed to maximise insulation and features a cavity brick wall with a nine-inch external wall and an internal wall of half that thickness with galvanised iron wall ties linking them together. The external brick bond is an unusual variant on the Flemish bond, with three stretchers alternating with one header.  The roof is also double-layered for insulation with hardwood shingles (visible inside) beneath an outer corrugated iron cladding. Windows are tiny, to limit heat transfer, and have flat brick arches. The eaves are supported by heavy timber brackets which have a decorative effect.  This information describing the construction of the Cheese Factory comes from notes supplied by Natica Schmeder of Context Heritage Consultants http://contextpl.com.au/

Murdoch McDonald,  the cheese maker, was born about 1832 on Kintail on the west coast of Scotland, up near the Isle of Skye. His parents were John McDonald and Flora McVicar. He arrived in Victoria in October 1849 when he was 16 with his mother who was 57, his brothers Malcolm aged 35 and John aged 25 and his 21 year old sister Ann. It is believed that the McDonald Brothers leased this property from 1865. They are listed in the earliest remaining Shire of Berwick Rate Books that we have from 1876 as leasing 3,180 acres (around 1,200 hectares) from W.J. Clarke and the three brothers appear to be joint tenants until 1883 when in the next year Miss Margaret McDonald is listed with her father.

The homestead, above, and the detached kitchen, below, were built the same time as the cheese factory.

Murdoch married Elizabeth Tulloch in 1858 and they had six children although only two would out-live Murdoch. Flora was born in 1859, was married in 1880 and died the next year; Margaret was born in 1861, married Robert Hooper in 1888, had two children and died aged 88 in 1949; Elizabeth was born in 1862, married and had two 2 children and died aged 28 in 1891. Kenneth lived from 1864 to 1939; David died aged 22 in 1888 and the last child Ann also died a year after she was married in 1894 aged 24. Murdoch died in 1909 aged 77 having outlived his wife, Elizabeth, who was only 39 when she died in 1878. They are both buried at the Berwick cemetery.

According to an article (partially reproduced here) from the South Bourke and Mornington Journal of November 17, 1880 Murdoch McDonald employed a dozen workers by 1880 and milked 200 cows daily and made 150 cheeses each week. Murdoch was at the property until December 1888 when in due to the  expiration of his lease a clearing sale was held on December 13 and 14. Two hundred and twenty four head of pure and half bred Ayrshire cattle were advertised for sale as well as a 300 gallon copper cheese tub, four double cheese presses and a 100 gallon churn.  It is therefore likely that cheese making at this site ended in 1888.

In 1904 Clarke’s Berwick Estate was sold, the homestead portion being purchased by William Wilson Junior, and renamed Springfield. Wilson Junior leased it to the Anderson Brothers, who trained and raced ponies, from 1904 to 1912. William was the son of Pioneer settlers and brothers, James and William who came to Berwick with their sister Anne in 1854, and purchased land from Robert Gardiner. They had arrived in Australia from Ireland with their parents in 1841. Upon arrival in the area they lived in tents until they built a small one room house, which was later extended and became Quarry Hills, which is one of the oldest in Berwick. The brothers grew wheat, potatoes and later went into dairying. In 1858 William (1830-1907) married Euphemia Brisbane and he kept Quarry Hills. They had three sons and two daughters including William Junior (1860-1936).

A basalt quarry was opened on William Senior’s land in 1859 (where the Wilson Botanic Park is today) when he gave contractors the right to remove stone. The quarry expanded after 1874, with the building of the Gippsland railway line to Sale as it provided ballast for the line, and William Junior took over its management in 1877 and provided blue metal for roadmaking. William Junior became a well known figure in public life as a representative on Council and through running the quarry.

Wilson later leased the property to the Willmott family  from 1912 until 1928. There were eleven children in the family and  William (1865-1923) and Katherine (nee Gervasini 1870-1940) Willmott paid £95 per quarter for the 1 square mile property, although some of the land was very poor and often under water during winter. The farm was used as a dairy farm and 60 cows were milked daily by hand. They also grew oats and hay and had 30 horses.  The seven sons all slept upstairs in the old Cheese Factory and the four daughters slept in the homestead with their parents. The property was purchased by The State Rivers and Water Supply Commission in 1925 and later subdivided and became Solder Settlement farms.  The family stayed on until 1928 when they moved to Thompsons Road.

The last family to live at the property was the Hatten Family. Charles Hatten (1891- 1980) served in the First World War and reached the rank of Second Lieutenant. He married Elsie Gell (1892-1970) in 1921. They moved onto their Soldier Settlement block in 1936 when their sons, Bruce and Neville, were 13 and nine years old. When the family arrived there was no garden, in fact, a crop of potatoes had been planted right up to the house. Mrs Hatten set out the garden. The family remained at Springfield until 1980 and as Mr Hatten had never taken up the option to purchase the property it was resumed by the Crown after his death. It is now owned by the City of Casey. Bruce Hatten donated some photographs  to our Archive, and they show the life of the Hatten family at Springfield in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Bruce and Neville Hatten

The Hatten family (and a visitor) - south side of the house, circa 1937.

The east or front of the house, showing the timber sleep out at right.

Mr and Mrs Hatten in front of the detached  kitchen, above, in the jig and below, in front of the fernery.

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Heritage Festival April 21, 2013

The City of Casey and the Casey Cardinia Branch of the National Trust present their second annual  Heritage Festival which will be held on Sunday, April 21 2013 from 11.00am to 3.00pm. Venue: The Old Cheese Factory, Homestead Road, Berwick.

Have  a high tea in the 1870's homestead or take a tour of the c. 1875 cheese factory. Heritage groups from the region will be on hand to answer your local history questions. Have your antiques appraised by a professional  valuer - you might find out that the hideous vase you inherited is worth  a fortune! Lots of free entertainment  for the whole family.  Free entry.

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Creeks and Rivers

When you drive along the Princes Highway or the South Gippsland Highway around the Dandenong, Doveton area you cross over the Dandenong Creek and the Eumemmerring Creek. When I do this I try to imagine what the landscape would have looked like to the Early European settlers and the Bunurong People. These water courses were generally the location of the first European settlements as they provided the water needed for the settlers and their livestock.

The Dandenong Creek, taken between 1920 and 1950.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1334

The Dandenong and Eumemmerring Creeks are now, in parts, concreted. These creeks used to run into the Carrum Swamp. Drainage works on the Carrum Swamp began in 1869 when the Carrum outfall drain (now the Patterson River) was created and thus the creeks now flow into this outfall drain. The Dandenong Creek was the site of the Bigning Run (also called  Bangholme or Bangam) taken up in 1837 by Joseph Hawdon. This, plus the neighbouring Ballymarang run, was taken over by the Wedge Brothers in 1839 and the 42 square mile (10,000 hectares) property was known as Banyan waterholes.

The 14 square mile (3,600 hectares)  Eumemmerring Run, based on the Eumemmerring creek, was taken up by Dr Farquhar McCrae (1807-1850) in 1839. Later the same year it was taken over by Leslie Foster  (1818-1900) or John Vesey Fitzgerald Leslie Foster, to give him his full name.  Foster held the run until 1842 when it was taken up by Edward Wilson and James Stewart Johnson who held it until 1846 when Thomas Herbert Power (1801-1873) took it on. The property then went from around the Dandenong Creek/Power Road all the way to Berwick.

Further south, the Clyde creek formed the border of the Mayune and Garem Gam Runs. Mayune was taken up by the Ruffy Brothers  1840, the same year James Bathe and T.J Perry took up the Garem Gam run. Mayune was 32,000 acres or nearly 13,000 hectares and Garem Gam was, in comparison, a tiny 3,200 acres or 1,00 hectares.

This is an aerial taken January 1970 and shows the Clyde Creek. the Creek is the dark line running diagonally from left to right. The road at the top of the photo is Patterson Road and Ballarto Road runs parallel to this at the bottom of the photograph. The Clyde Creek formed the border of the Mayune and Garem Gam Runs (see above).

Further east are the Cardinia and Toomuc Creeks which used to flow into the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp. In 1876, swamp reclamation works carried out by the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp drainage committee created drains which carried the water from these creeks directly to Western Port Bay. Around 1916, Deep Creek was channelled into the Toomuc Creek drain.

This is the Cardinia Creek in its natural state, taken January 1972, at Clyde North/Officer. The creek meanders across the landscape. In the bottom left hand corner is Thompson Road.

Contrast this photograph of Cardinia Creek with the one above; the Cardinia Creek has been 'tamed', no casual meandering across the countryside any more. The aerial was taken in December 1971 and shows the results of the 1876 drainage works carried out by the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp drainage committee talked about above. The drain coming  in from the top left is the channelized Cardinia Creek. This channel meets up with the channelized Toomuc Creek and Deep Creek at the bottom of the photograph. The Toomuc Creek is the one on the left of these drains that comes in at a 45 degree angle at Ballarto Road. Wenn Road crosses this drain. This is just east of the Cardinia township.

There were various runs either side of the Cardinia Creek. Cardinia Creek 1 run (5,120 acres or 2,000 hectares)  was taken up in October 1842 by Robert Henry. The Cardinia Creek 2 run was taken up in September 1838 by Terence O'Connnor. The Gin Gin Bean Station of 7,000 acres  (2,800 hectares) was first leased in 1840 and  then taken over in April 1846 by James Lecky. James Lecky purchased the 640 acre (one square mile) pre-emptive right of Gin Gin Bean in 1855 and built his homestead, Cardinia Park, on the Cardinia Creek, three miles south of Officer. Lecky was also an original member of the Cranbourne Road Board and the Cranbourne Shire Council. The Lecky’s owned the property until the 1930s.

The Cardinia Creek, in its natural state, at Harkaway. Photo not dated, but looks like the 1920s.

State Library of Victoria Image H36420/20

Also on the Cardinia Creek was the 5,760 acre (2,330 hectares) St Germains Run. First leased in February 1845 by James Buchanan it was taken over in January 1848 by Alexander Patterson. Patterson (1813-1896) was an original member of the Cranbourne Road Board when it was established on June 19, 1860 and an original member of the Shire of Cranbourne when it was established February 24, 1868. The current St Germains Homestead was built in 1893.

I.Y.U. Station was the Toomuc Creek. This 12,945 acre (5,200 hectares) Station was first leased in October 1839 by William Kerr Jamieson. In October 1850 William Waddell took over and in June 1866 George John Watson became the owner. Watson (1828-1906) established the Melbourne Hunt Club, which moved to Cranbourne in 1925. The Cardinia Creek and the Toomuc Creek were also the location of two of the earliest hotels in the area – the Gippsland Hotel and the La Trobe Inn (also known as Bourkes Hotel).

 This is the Toomuc outfall drain, created in 1876, taken at Manks Road in July 1938.

Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph.

As we go further east there is the Ararat Creek around which was based the three Ararat squatting runs. Mount Ararat 1, a mere 1900 acres (760 hectares), was taken up in August 1844 by John Dore and Michael Hennessy. Mt Ararat 2, a Station of 16,000 acres (6,400 hectares) was  located six miles east of Pakenham and was south of Mt Ararat 1. Mount Ararat 2 was said to extend to just outside of Drouin. It was first leased in August 1844. There were various leaseholders until April 1870 when John Startup took over. Startup was an original member of the Berwick Road Board which was established September 29, 1862. The third Station was Mt Ararat Creek. This was of 5,120 acres (2,000 hectares) and was first leased in September 1846 by William Walsh.

The Main Drain of the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp or the Bunyip River, taken at the Eleven Mile bridge in 1939.

Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society photograph.

The next water course was the Bunyip River. This river originally flowed out over the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp until the sixteen mile (25 kms) long Main Drain, which was dug from 1889 to 1893, took the water directly to Western Port Bay.

Further around the Bay is the Yallock creek, where Samuel Rawson and Robert Jamieson established the Yallock Station in 1839.  Then further south is the Lang Lang River, the site of the Tobin Yallock or Torbinurruck Station. This was of 1920 acres (770 hectares)  and taken up in July 1839 by Robert Jamieson. In June 1913 the Lubecker Steam dredge started work on this river, described at the time as a ‘wandering creek’ and dredged it to prevent flood waters backing up across areas of the Tobin Yallock Swamp lands.

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Gembrook

Gembrook derived its name from the property owned by early European settler, Albert Le Souef who was the first official settler in the area when he purchased 129 hectares (320 acres) of land in July 1873. He called this property Gembrook Park.  The original Gembrook settlement was south of today’s town and the community that grew around the Ure familys Silver Wells property was to the north of today's town. However, the commercial focus of the town shifted to around the Gembrook Railway Station when it opened as part of the Puffing Billy railway line. The Fern Tree Gully to Gembrook Railway, as it was officially known, was a narrow gauge railway of 2 feet, six inches and opened December 19, 1900.

                           

Gembrook Railway Station, taken between 1920 and 1954.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/2159

Dorfmans Ranges Hotel Gembrook. Wolf Dorfman was licensee between 1935 and 1946.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/4109 

The Argus Wednesday 27 November 1901 page 11  

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

One of the earliest buildings in Gembrook is the Ranges Hotel.The Berwick Shire Rate books list Jessey and Isabella Sykes as having a Hotel at Crown Allotment A11 in Gembrook from 1894, however in The Argus of November 27, 1901 (reproduced above)  there was an application from Jane McMahon to obtain a licence for the premises'about to be erected'. It seems likely therefore that a hotel was on the site from 1894 and that after the Railway line came through a new and bigger hotel was erected. From around 1907, the hotel was operated by brothers,  Fred and Howard Pitt. In 1921 it was taken over by John and Catherine Beacham who transferred the licence to Wolf Dorfman in February 1935. Dorfman transferred the licence to Daphne and Alfred McGregor in 1946. The Ranges Hotel is currently closed.

 

Another view of the Hotel, most likely taken in the 1940s or 1950s.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/267 

                              

Panorama of Gembrook

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/4110

Other community buildings followed the Hotel -  an Anglican Church opened  in 1905, a Catholic Church in around 1922 and various shops. The Memorial Hall was opened in December 1921 and later a Library and a Meeting Room was built under the Hall, as it was on a sloping block. The Memorial Hall was demolished in 1981 and replaced by a ‘community centre’. 

There was an earlier privately owned hall which, from 1906 until 1915, was used for State School No.2506, which had previously been located in Gembrook North. This School began in 1879 as the part time school No.2110, sharing the same number as Emerald State School,  and became full-time in 1889. Classes took place in the Union Church from 1884 until it moved to the Main Street in 1906. In 1915, a new building was built and the School moved to its current location.  There were four other Gembrook Schools -  Pakenham Upper School, No.2155, was called Gembrook South from 1879 until 1916, when it was renamed Pakenham Upper. It became part of Pakenham Consolidated School in 1951.  Gembrook West, No.3211, operated for just over a year from August 1894 until October 1895. The second Gembrook West School, No.4073, operated from 1921 until 1923. Finally Gembrook South East, No. 3468, opened half time with Nar Nar Goon North in March 1904 and closed in December 1908.

Finally, Gembrook is the home of the Gilwell Scout Camp, established in 1926 and visited by Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Scots movement,  in 1931 and 1935. 

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The Grange, Harkaway

The Grange was built  for the Honourable William A'Beckett, M.L.C., J.P. (1833-1901) in 1862 or 1866 (depending on sources). It was designed by local architect George Washington Robinson. The house had views over Port Phillip Bay and was off A'Beckett Road, even though the original entrance was from Halleur Road as A'Beckett Road was made after The Grange was built.  A'Beckett married Emma Mills in 1855 and one of their daughters, Emma Minnie (1858-1936), who was an artist married fellow artist, Arthur Merric Boyd (1862-1940).  In 1948, The Grange  was purchased by Arthur and Minnie's son, the author, Martin A'Beckett Boyd (1893-1972) and his nephew, Arthur Boyd (1920-1999) painted murals in the house. Sadly, this grand house was sold in 1955 and then re-sold in 1963 to a Quarry.

On November 26, 1967  photographer, Richard Dunbar, took some photographs of The Grange and the murals and his widow, Margaret has kindly allowed us to reproduce them here. This is a rare opportunity to see the murals, in situ. 

Peter Freeman, the author of Brick Homes of Berwick* saw The Grange before it was demolished and wrote (possibly circa 1963)  It is now owned by the quarry - which owns the whole property, and it is slowly being surrounded by overburden, cracked by heavy blasting work and is bound to be demolished in the near future. It is  a tragic end to a beautiful and historic house. I do not the exact date The Grange was demolished, but as it was standing in November 1967, then 1968 would be  a likely date. 

Along with the photographs was this, undated, newspaper article from The Age, written by Geoff Maslin,  about the murals.  In the article, Melbourne Art dealer, Joseph Brown, says that when they removed the murals steel frames had to be made to fit around each section of the four walls and a mobile crane and a semi-trailer were needed to cart them away. At the time the article was written (circa 1990) the murals were being stored at a Canberra warehouse by the National Gallery.

*Brick homes of Berwick by Peter Freeman. We have a photocopy of this typed manuscript in the Archive, it is undated, but written possibly circa 1963.  Mr Freeman looks at The Grange and other early brick homes of Berwick, Harkaway and Narre Warren North.

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