Talk about being sidetracked. I was looking for more detail about John Bryan when I found this. The next advertisement was also of interest, so....

The Thoroughbred Stallion, Mornington For Service this Season at the Residence of the undersigned, in the Parish of Fingal, 9 Miles from - DROMANA. HE is a rich chestnut, 6 years old, stands 16 hands high, possesses a fine temper, very powerful and fast. His stock are very promising. Mornington is by Demonstrator, from Issle, by the Premier (imported). Demonstrator's dam, Vallonia (imported), by Woolwich, out of Florence Nightingale, by Cotherstone.- Her dam, Fanny Booth, by Gladiator, &c., (see Stud Book). Grand sire, Mathematician (imported), by Emilius, out of Maria, by Whisker, &c., (see Stud Book). TERMS :-?2 10s. each mare, one in five allowed; ?2 2s. for mares that visited Mornington last season. All Mares to be paid for on removal. Due notice will be given when mares are stinted. Every care taken of mares, but no responsibility. Good paddocks. 13ccd JAMES PURVES.

To STAND this Season at ALMOND -BUSH, SOMERVILLE The Thoroughbred Stallion, Moonbeam.
(P.4, South Bourke and Mornington Journal, 5-12-1877.)

There were many horse breeders on the Mornington Peninsula such as George McLear at Dromana and Edward Gomm at Somerville near Gomms Rd.The owner of Almond Bush Stud at Somerville (at the north end of Almond Bush St, Melway 107 J10-11) was Alfred Jones who was born in England but went to Canada with his parents at the age of about 10. His biography was in VICTORIA AND ITS METROPOLIS:PAST AND PRESENT (1888.) It told how he supplied firewood for a few years before farming at Baxter's Flat and then buying land at Somerville. It said that he took the wood to Frankston but it was actually Mt Eliza in the parish of Frankston. Many websites state that Canadian Bay was named after three Canadians but do not give their names.Mr Mann's history of Mt Eliza(in the local history room at the Rosebud Library)does name them:McCurley, Hodgins and Jones. The Liverpool anchored a mile offshore in Canadian Bay and the wood was rowed out to the ship. Jones Rd in Somerville was named after Alfred. Hodgins Rd was named after Charlotte and J.Hodgins, who were granted crown allotments 39B and 39A, parish of Bittern, 191 acres at the north west corner of Hodgins and Boes Rds(Melway 154 B-c 7-8.)
Boundary Road at Mr Eliza,part of the boundary between the parishes of Frankston and Moorooduc is now named Canadian Bay Rd because of Jones, Hodgins and McCurley.

Jones' Corner, the centre of the locality of Moorooduc is named after Edward Jones, a Welshman, whose family owned Spring Farm, Criccieth and Penbank (whose locations can be given if desired.) This family was not related to Alfred Jones. The Shepherds, prominent nurserymen at Somerville, were related to the Edward Jones family and later established a nursery on part of Penbank. David Shepherd suggested the site for the Penbank school.

WHICH JAMES PURVES?
The two men credited with having started the breeding of thoroughbreds in Victoria were James Purves and William Cross Yuille,the latter the author of the Stud Book. I was surprised to discover this as Hurtle Fisher and his brother, Charles B.Fisher (the father of the Australian Turf according to MARIBYRNONG:ACTION IN TRANQUILITY), had captured this distinction in my mind.

This James Purves died at Richmond on 12-6-1878. (P.1s, Launceston Examiner, 6-7-1878.) He owned Chinton, east of Mt Macedon and Tootgarook on the Mornington Peninsula. Neither is mentioned in this obituary but they were in other obituaries. James Purves had a brother named Peter but you'd never know it unless you read Hec Hanson's MEMOIRS OF A LARRIKIN. He was a mason and followed his architect brother to Van Diemans Land when his wife died shortly after giving birth to their first child, James. Leaving the baby in the care of a relative, the heartbroken Peter joined his brother and combining their skills they built many of Tasmania's early bridges.

James brought sheep to the Port Phillip District in 1837 but I'd bet it was Peter who looked after them; James always preferred the high life in Melbourne. They probably managed Edward Hobson's Tootgarook from the mid 1840's, while Hobson managed his brother's River of Little Fish (Traralgon) Run, and took over the lease of the Tootgarook Run in 1850. To illustrate my comment about James and the high life, he was involved in organising Melbourne first Sporting Carnival and it was Peter who with James Ford organised the dodgy petition in the late 1850's against the Government's plan to fence off the police paddock near the Heads from White Cliff to the back beach.

From 1852, James Purves lived on the Tootgarook pre-emptive right full time! A change of heart? No, this James Purves was Peter's son,born in 1835. He spent eight years with his father who died in March 1860. It must have been this James Purves who placed the advertisement and lived at Fingal. It must have been this James Purves who bought Green Hills on the west side of Purves Rd in Rosebud before the late 1880's. While the men were building the dairy etc at Green Hills, aborigines came to the Tootgarook homestead asking for water while James' daughters, Emily and Frances (aged about 11 and 5) were home alone.

Why was James still not living at Tootgarook? Possibly a disagreement with prominent lawyer, James Liddle Purves, the son of the architect and the new owner, who expected him to do all the work with little reward or appreciation, much the same reason that George Gomm left Glenhoya at Somerville because of his brother Billy's lack of contribution.

And where was James Purves' residence at Fingal? It was a 514 acre property granted to James Purves on 10-5-1860. Had James moved away from Tootgarook soon after Peter's death? It consisted of crown allotments 1,2, and 3 of section A of the parish of Fingal, bounded by Limestone, Truemans and Sandy Rds(Melway 251-2) with the south east corner of The Dunes being its north west corner.