A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY! AND WITHOUT VICTORIAN BDM WHICH IS UNAVAILABLE BECAUSE OF SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE!

WISEMAN.-VX25406 Corporal William John, dearly beloved husband of Thora, previously reported missing, now reported missing, believed deceased, while prisoner of war. Laha. Amboina. cause and date unknown.
WISEMAN.-At Laha. Amboina. Corporal Jack Wiseman. 2/21st. late of Dromana and Kaniva, second son of Sam and Grace Wiseman, of 325 Toorak road. Burwood, brother of Harry (R.A.A.F.). Margaret (Mrs. B.Mann*), Les (R.A.A.F.)**, and Don (date and cause unknown.) P.2, Argus, 1-12-1945.)
POSTSCRIPT.
*Margaret (of Red Hill) became engaged to Bruce in 1941.
** Still at Red Hill in 1951.
My first thought was that Jack was a descendant of James Wiseman, blacksmith, early pioneer of Red Hill. However, I have gained the impression that James was a bachelor and lived at Red Hill with a spinster sister. Was Jack descended from one of the Wiseman brothers who built mirror image mansions at Glenroy (the Toorak of the north) in the late 1880's? I had a vague memory of a marriage that indicated that James Wiseman of Ascot Vale WAS connected with Red Hill.
Jack's mother, Gracie was the daughter of George BIGNELL, a pioneer of Flemington after whom Bignell St was probably named, who died at Gracie's Dromana residence on 29-4-1934.
(http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10932009 )
His father, Sam, was the son of James Wiseman of Ascot Vale.
(WISEMAN. – On August 13, at Tunstall,
Annie, beloved wife of the late James
Wiseman, of Ascotvale, loved stepmother of
Ethel and Sam. –Reunited.
WISEMAN. –On August 13, at Tunstall,
Annie, relict of the late James Wiseman, of
Ascotvale. P.2, ARGUS, 15-8-1944.)

Sam and Gracie were more likely to have been at Red Hill rather than at Dromana. See WISEMAN-MANN engagement-
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8183992

Hill Hillis, his brother in law, James McKeown, and James Wiseman were among the earliest pioneers of Red Hill. My impression that James Wiseman was a bachelor is wrong.
"James purchased his 106 acres (between Sheehans Rd and Arkwell Lane) on 24-2-1862. James was born in 1830 at Ruthven, Scotland and sailed from London in June 1851 aboard Captain Godfrey's"Statesman". Arriving at Geelong he went to gold fields in Victoria and briefly Otago in New Zealand. He was a blacksmith in Melbourne for eight years and married Christina Bain, also from Scotland, and they had three children, James, John** and Christina*, before moving to Red Hill where Janet and William were born."
(P.11, THE RED HILL, Sheila Skidmore.)
*Became Mrs Ramseyer in 1888-
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/191205775
** Died 17-8-1942 aged 82-
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11991779

You would need to read my journal* about Stephen Lynch's PIONEERS OF THE PENINSULA to understand how this proves that James Wiseman of Ascot Vale was the Red Hill pioneer or his son.
HILLIS- WISEMAN.---On the 1st November, at
the Presbyterian Church, Dandenong, by the Rev.
H. A. Buntine, George P., third son of W. J. Hillis,
Trafalgar, to Ethel D., only daughter of the late
James Wiseman, Ascot Vale, and sister of T.B .
Wiseman, Bass.(P.59, Leader, 8-12-1917.)
* http://www.familytreecircles.com/the-hillis-mckeown-white-d…

P.P.S. Hec. Hansen was born on 14-2-1913 so if the James Wiseman he described on page 11 of Petronella Wilson's MEMOIRS OF A LARRIKIN was the pioneer of 1862 he must have died when Hec. was a boy. This would seem to indicate that James Wiseman of Ascot Vale, father of Sam and grandfather of Jack, was James Wiseman Jnr. As James Wiseman Snr. was born in 1830 he would have been about 91 when he died (perhaps at Frankston.)

Mr James Wiseman, who has resided in the Frankston district since 1862 has
died. (P.6, Weekly Times, 24-12-1924.)
Also see: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204268034

James Wiseman Snr. was elected** to the Kangerong School District* Board of Advice in 1873. (* Kangerong Road Board, parishes of Kangerong, Fingal, Wannaeue and Nepean.) The Red Hill State School,( former non-vested school No. 77) opened on 1-1-1874, was in this area but many of its 34 initial pupils, such as Mary Elizabeth and Martha Blakeley* lived south of Arthurs Seat Rd and thus in the Flinders Road District.(P. 53, Helen Blakeley's book.)
** http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202521712
(The school was conducted in a building leased from James Wiseman until a year or two before his death.)

WIFE OF JAMES WISEMAN SNR.
WISEMAN (nee Bain).—On the 5th October, at
her late residence, Red Hill, passed peacefully
away, Christina, relict of James Wiseman,
blacksmith, eldest sister of late Alexander Bain,
blacksmith, Fitzroy, and loved mother of John
B. and Janet C., aged 91 years 8½ months. A
colonist of 69 years.
"He giveth His beloved sleep."
(P. 1, Argus, 10-10-1923.)

I wonder if James Wiseman's wife was related to Elizabeth Bain who married George Chapman of "Seawinds".Elizabeth's ancestry is a mystery I've been trying to solve for years.
CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL!

P.P.P.S.
Aha! Now I know how I gained the erroneous impression that James Wiseman Snr. was a bachelor and lived with his spinster sister at Red Hill. The unmarried couple were his son, John Bain Wiseman, a carpenter, and obviously Janet C.(Christina?) Staunch Presbyterians, they used to travel by buggy to the Dromana Presbyterian Church (in the former Union Church building) right up to their eighties, tethering their horse to a fence near a cypress tree on the foreshore side of the main road. (P.88, A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA which also confirms the death dates of James Snr and his wife, Christina as given above as well as giving their birth dates and that of John Bain Wiseman.

James Wiseman Jnr was at Ascot Vale by 1895 when his son Samuel won a certificate in the under 10 section in a Church of Christ Sunday School examination involving 450 children. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203611201
Sam's sister, Ethel, who was a bit older than Sam and was also starring in the examinations at this time, married George (b.1888),the fifth child and third son of W.J.Hillis and Annie (nee Ault) in 1917 (as above.) P.3, PIONEERS OF THE PENINSULA.

It seems almost certain that James Wiseman Jnr. lived at number 28 in today's Kent St, Ascot Vale and worked at the Newport workshops. Funeral notice, 1898: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/191488651

By 1892, James Wiseman Jnr. was the president of the locomotive workshops union. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197173092

Being the son of a blacksmith, it is not surprising that James Jnr.'s occupation involved working with metal.

CONFIRMATION THAT THIS UNION LEADER WAS THE SON OF JAMES WISEMAN AND HIS WIFE, CHRISTINA, NEE BAIN. Can you spot the word whose digitisation I did not correct? Without the assistance of Victorian B.D.M., it took much tacking re search terms to find his death notice.
WISEMAN.—On the 5th January, at 28 Kent-avenue, Ascot Vale. James, the dearly loved husband of Annie Wiseman, eldest son of J. and C. Wiseman, of Bed Hill. Dromana, late of Loco. workshops, Newport,in his 39th year.
(P.1, The Age, 6-1-1898.)

The following burials are recorded as having taken place at the Dromana Cemetery, details from gravestone inscriptions.
WISEMAN James� photo 15-7-1830 10/12/1921
WISEMAN Christina� photo 21-1-1832 5/10/1923
WISEMAN John Bain� photo 30-4-1860 10/08/1942
WISEMAN Joyce Doreen photo 7/02/1929 19/01/1994 66
WISEMAN D.I. photo 22/12/1989 65 Wife Joyce