ENTRY IN DHOTAMA.

PEACHEY
A native of Cambridgeshire, STEPHEN PEACHEY married in England before sailing from Southampton on 1-3-1854 for Melbourne. Going straight to Box Forest (see Pascoe), he also leased 27 acres at Fitzroy and later purchased this and 30 acres at Box Forest which he still owned in 1888. VICTORIA & ITS METROPOLIS P. 741.
I can find no mention of Stephen Peachey at Box Forest in Broadmeadows? 1863 rates but in the Broadmeadows Division , he was assessed on a farm he owned in Jika Jika (N.A.V. 11 pounds). This land had to be west of Northumberland Rd. because the rest of the parish of Jika Jika was in Pentridge (Coburg) as Fawkner?s Pascoeville had been until May, 1862 or Jika (Preston) Road District. As Merai Farm occupied the land between Gaffney St. and Devon Rd., Peachey?s farm would have had to be between Devon Rd. and Rhodes Pde. A map on P.78 of Andrew Lemon?s book shows the northern boundaries of three farms fronting Rhodes Pde in 1874. Standen?s,recently bought by Bowring went east to the fenceline between Grevillia Rd. and Watt Ave., while the Dowd Res. Western boundary indicates the boundary between Murray and Peachy?s (Sic!) farms, the latter extending to Northumberland Rd.
The 1879-80 rates show that Joseph Bowring had 100 acres and Mrs William Murray 77 acres. As land described as being at Box Forest totalled 919 acres plus the (present) First and Last Hotel as well as Cavenagh land, and Fawkner?s Section 2, Will Will Rook (i.e. Hadfield) consisted only of 640 acres, it is fair to assume that the 56 acres owned by the Peacheys at Box Forest was actually at the s/w corner of Rhodes Pde. and Northumberland Rd. as shown on the 1874 map. It is also reasonable to assume that the Bowring, Murray and Peachey total of 233 acres extended south to Devon Rd. (BETWEEN TWO CREEKS. R.Broome. Broadmeadows: A Forgotten History. A. Lemon).
In 1879-80, Stephen and George Peachey owned two blocks at Box Forest, of 26 and 30 acres. By 1899-1900, this land had been divided with George, Henry, James and Stephen each owning a house and land while Henry had another 20 acres. By 1920-1 much subdivision was taking place with North East, South, West and Middle Streets in Hadfield (as Box Forest was later to be called in honour of Cr. Rupert Hadfield) having been named, and I could see no mention of the Peacheys. Keith McNab said that there had been an outbreak of swine fever, which accounted for Stephen Peachey?s move to Tullamarine.
The area at the north end of Northumberland Rd. took on the name of Westbreen after the school opened. It was discovered that naming the school after Mt. Sabine, a farm just to the east, would cause confusion so the district inspector coined a combination of the names of two bus proprietors, Weston and Breen. Richard Broome said that the area was previously known as Mt. Sabine or Peacheytown after a local farmer. (Jim McKenzie*, a Prospect St. youth in the 1930?s, said that it was known as Peachey-Kelly town and the area to the north was called Cow Dung Flats.) In 1922 Harry Peachey and W.J.Weston-Smith chivalrously formed a footpath beside the Kent and Cornwall Rd. gluepot for the ladies from the 300 families which were settling in. BROOME, VISION& REALISATION. *Many anecdotes in my ?Kilts and Cow Dung Flats?.
In Broadmeadows History Kit, Sue O?Callaghan say that George Peachey, a farmer, also worked as a gardener for Frank Stuart, tending his flower and vegetable beds and an orchard. This would have involved a bit of travelling as Stuart?s house was on the south side of Tudor St. in Glenroy. (3-3-1888 sale plan).

By 1920-1, Stephen Peachey had established a dairy on 6 ? acres at Tullamarine. The triangular farm on section 6 of the parish of Tullamarine, was bounded by two lines from the Derby St./ Melrose Drive corner, the first Derby St. itself and the second the boundary of sections 6 and 3, which is indicated clearly by the fence running at a 45 degree angle from the corner and due east. The third boundary was a southerly extension of the part of Derby St. which runs past the factories. The neighbouring properties were Strathconnan to the east and Broombank to the south. Boyse Court and the part of Millar Rd. that it meets are on the site of Peachey?s Dairy while St.Tropez Gardens is just inside Broombank?s north boundary and thus in section 3. In late Nov. 1998, I approached Hume Council about the possibility of the two Millar Roads costing a life and suggesting that the one on the old dairy land be renamed Peachey St. Incidentally, the name of Boyse Crt. comes from Snowy Boyse of ?Barbiston? who subdivided the land.
Stephen?s daughter, Flo., married Tom Wright whose family farmed Strathconnan and another 159 acre farm across Broadmeadows (Mickleham) Rd. His other two children were Mavis (Buckingham) and, by a second wife, Stephanie (Ammann). Stephen went to W.W.1., serving in the Light-Horse, and after his return his wife died when Mavis was only 18 months old. Mavis started work in Coles Cafeteria in town when she was 19, catching the bus at Greens Corner each morning. As she left home at 22, Mavis feared that she wouldn?t be able to tell me much! She recalled being read bible stories by the very religious people living in the old post office across Bulla Rd. (Lucy Andrews or the Thorburns maybe.) She thinks that her father left the Tullamarine property in about 1960; he moved to Reservoir.
Her Grandma Peachey lived in West St., Hadfield and Bill Peachey lived in a corner house backing onto the golf course and facing the Westbreen hall; Rhodes Pde. may have been only a fenceline at that stage, so this was probably on Dowd Reserve, the old farm. Stephen Peachey (1)already had two sons, George and Henry, when he came to Australia. One of George?s 12 children was Stephen (2) who married one of John Watts daughters as did his brother, Henry. Stephen(3) of Tullamarine was a son of Stephen (2). John Watt received the grant for Oakfield at the east corner of Somerton and Pascoe Vale Roads but was living in Sydney Rd near the K Mart site by 1920. Stephen(3) of Tullamarine was a son of Stephen (2). Incidentally, Mavis met her husband on a blind date; he was not a resident of Tullamarine or Peacheytown.
Lily Peachey, Stephen?s sister, married Mr.T.W.Hosking and, now aged 90, lives in Gaffney St., Coburg.
Stephen Peachey (1) died in 1919 at 69 and was buried in the Fawkner Cemetery.
Te following members of the Peachey family were buried at the Will Will Rook cemetery on the dates specified:
Annie Marie 10-10-1907, Elsie Katherine 2-3-1907, George 23-9-1929, George Warder 19-10-1906, Rachael 12-12-1904.
Peachey descendants interested in family history should contact Lil Peachey of Essex St., Pascoe Vale or John Peachey of West St., Glenroy.