It is very difficult to ascertain the first use of present names of streets and roads in the shire on trove. There would be no record of why streets were so named, so assumptions need to be made. Unfortunately,it is very highly unlikely that Joseph Banks' botanist mate, who climbed Arthurs Seat with Flinders, was the person being honoured.

I believe that the Rye end of the road, where James Little Brown turned burrows and scrub into beautiful pasture was first named, with perhaps other names applied east of Weeroona St. Later it would have made sense to apply one name to the whole length of the road as seems to have happened between Truemans Rd and Rye where Guest St, named after the family of Ray and Alma Guest,extends outside the Almaray Estate into the pre-emptive right and east into Alf Doig's Oceanaire Estate.

When Flinders (and Kangerong till 1914)Shire let contracts for roadworks they would state how many chains and the names of residents at each end of the stretch of road BECAUSE VERY FEW ROADS HAD NAMES.

As late as 1943, some roads still had different names than they bear today and they were probably not official. See George Hill's death notice below. Rye Rd was most likely today's Melbourne Rd.

HILL.-On April 28, at his residence, Rye road, Sorrento. George, dearly beloved husband of Elizabeth, loving father of Lucy(Mrs. Waldon) Ethel (Mrs. Cain), William, Charles, Arthur, Bob, Mary (Mrs. Aslin), Eric, Len, aged 77.(P.2, Argus, 29-4-1943.)


Eastbourne Rd in Rosebud was called Ford's Lane in about 1902 because Cr William Ford had owned the 660 acre Wannaeue Station on its south side from Jetty Rd(the road near the state school) to Boneo Rd (which was known as the Flinders road) a couple of decades earlier. By 1920 Jack Raper, a former Essendon Football Club player and official, whose embarrassing surname was pronounced by Rosebud oldtimers as Roper, owned the Wannaeue Estate and the road was called Roper's Lane. It is now named after S.S.Crispo's grants, which he named Eastbourne and where he wanted the new nation's capital to be sited and named Federanium. Edward Williams, whose new homestead (17 WILLIAM Crescent- how stupid!) was built a few years after his mate's death,retain Crispo's name for the property.

In about 1904 when Robert Henry Adams and Back Road Bob Cairns were having a huge drainage dispute, today's Bayview Rd was called Hobson's Flat road by Robert Anderson of Barragunda, Cape Schanck (to which the road led, meeting today's Boneo Rd at Melway 253 C 9-10.) (P.2, Mornington Standard, 29-10-1904.)

Weeroona St, Rye was called Jennings Road, after the family went to Rye from Camperdown and bought land rehabilitated by James Little Brown to establish "Kariah". It was between Weeroona Rd and Dundas St (which was originally known as Browns Rd.)

It is unknown when Dundas St became known as Browns Road but one would suspect that it was after the c.1909 arrival of JAMES LITTLE BROWN.

FROM MY SHIRE OF FLINDERS JOURNAL.(Councillor entries.)
BROWN James Little J.P. 1915-22
(Postscript. Despite being called John in a long succession of assessments, the man after whom Browns Rd was named was James Little Brown.)

ROSEBUD. Mr J. L. Brown, who is opposing Mr Marsden in the West riding of the Flinders and Kangerong Shire, addressed the ratepayers on Tuesday evening. (P.3, Mornington Standard, 29-8-1914.)

At the last meeting of the Shire Council Councillor A.D.Forbes of the East Riding and Councillor J.L.Brown of the West Riding announced their intention of not seeking re election. The president (Councillor Macfarlan) and other councillors expressed regret at the announcements. In the Central Riding Councillor Wettenhall is opposed by Mr Holland of "The Rest" Flinders,and the contest is likely to be very keen.
(P.14, Argus, 17-8-1923, BALNARRING.)


LIME LAND LEISURE discusses at great length how James Little Brown arrived in Rye in 1909 on a pushbike, having previously been in the Mallee. He noted how similar the ti tree and rabbit infested area south of Rye was to King Island and bought much land that had passed into the hands of creditors. Patricia Appleford's RYE PRIMARY SCHOOL 1667, gives the same information but adds more detail.

Jim stayed for 18 days with Robert Rowley on the west side of Truemans Rd, south of Trueman's grant.Then he went to Melbourne and bought 1500 acres from banks and trust companies. In very short time, land was cleared, burned, fenced and sown with grass. The wire netting fences kept rabbits out and those trapped inside could not escape the inevitable.Overseen by James Cain and Robert Myers, well were dug and windmills installed to pump water into concrete troughs.

Within 12 months, Jim was selling fattened beef cattle. The rate collector may have made a mistake in 1910, unless Jim had a son called John. John H.Little Brown was assessed on:
245 acres (33AB, 35), 164 acres (29A), 102 acres (28A), 95 acres (26A) all in Wannaeue, and a total of 853 acres in the parish of Nepean (west of Weeroona Rd.)The strange thing is that there was no member of the Brown family assessed in the Wannaeue parish part of West Riding in 1919, with one exception! The location of each piece of Wannaeue land, with the name of the grantee, follows.

35, 173 acres, P.Sullivan, Melway 168 H-J11-12, 251H-J1,adjoining The Dunes.
33A, 148 acres, P.Sullivan, 251 J 2-3, K3.
33B, 40 acres, J.B.Davies, 251, K2.
29, 164.5 acres, J.Spunner, 252 D1-3.
26A, 21.5 acres, W.A.Blair Jnr, bottom third of 252 F-G 1 with a 228 metre frontage to the west side of Truemans Rd and extending to the east boundary of the Eagle Ridge Golf Course. The rate collector had it wrong; Crown allotment 26, granted to Edward Ford, consisted of 95 acres 2 roods and 20 perches and was obviously the land being assessed..
26, 95 acres, E.Ford, 252 G2-3, with frontages of 784 metres to Truemans Rd and 334 metres to Limestone Rd.

Nepean Land.
The rate collector took the easy way out by writing only "853 acres Nepean".

It is stated in LIME LAND LEISURE that the first land that James Little Brown improved was south of Rye Township between Dundas St and Weeroona Rd. Whether this included suburban lots 10,11 and 12 of the township (roughly 200 acres) which became the Ryelands Estate (McDonald's former golf course) is unclear, but a map in the book seems to indicate that it adjoined the cemetery. South of the Golf Pde corner were crown allotments 4, 20 and 21 of the parish of Nepean, a total of 374 acres,212 acres of which became Dod Jennings' Kariah in 1914. (See below for clarification.)

This SEEMS tobe blatantly incorrect, as does the claim that it was James Little Brown doing all the reclamation. There is only one mention of James Brown in the rates and that was in 1919, a decade after the reclamation commenced! John L.Brown was written as the ratepayer to be assessed on crown allotments 1, 2, 3 and buildings section 5 (under the heading of RYE, FOLIO 95, ASSESSMENT NUMBER 1882.) John is crossed out and James written above it. (I assumed that James was either the father or son of John Little Brown. If John was a rate collector's error, it is hard to imagine it being repeated for ten years. It was! See below.)

To confirm the claim that Brown arrived and bought land in 1909, I checked the 1909-10 assessments and found the Wannaeue details as in 1910 but also details of the land in the parish of Nepean; there were no entries for 1908-9. The Nepean details were:
24, granted to J.Purves, 99 acres, Melway 251 E1, fronting Dundas St, adjoining The Dunes.
17, 18, James Purves, 282 acres, Melway 168 B-D11,fronting Browns Rd, adjoining Ocean Reserve.
25, J.Purves, 82 acres, Melway 251E1, fronting Dundas St.
26, J.Purves, 111 acres, Melway 251 F2, fronting Dundas St.
32, John Cain, 176 acres(actually about 27 acres), Melway 167 F5, Miller, Topaz and Bath Sts to Harleian St.(See correction below.)
10, 11, Owen Cain, 103 acres (actually 177 acres), Melway 167, J-K 3-4, south to Fern St playground.

Section 5 of Rye Township is that area bounded by Collingwood St, Napier St, Ballabil St (and the south boundary of Kanasta Caravan Park) and Dundas St. James Brown was occupying the whole of section 5's 13 acres in 1919, after his name had replaced John's, and it may well have been the first area restored by James Little Brown but every other piece of land was supposedly turned into beautiful pasture by John Little Brown. Danny Jennings thinks that the Brown homestead on section 5, which is still standing, is 1 May Ave.

I have followed the progress of John Little Brown in 1909, 1914, 1917 and 1919 as he transformed rabbit and ti tree wastelands into this beautiful pasture. By 1914, he only had 202 of the 853 acres on which he had been assessed in the parish of Nepean, part of Owen Cain's Tyrone. He still had it in 1917 but not in 1919.By 1914, he had added land, south of Limestone Rd in the parish of Fingal. This land consisted of crown allotments:
5B, granted to E.Ford, 63 acres, Melway 252 H-J4, bounded by Limestone and Sandy Rds; a maze ing!
8B, granted to J.L.Brown on 1-12-1916, Melway 252 G7, fronting Maxwells Rd from No.131 to about a third of the way between No.180 and No.239. The Fingal land was retained in 1917 but sold by 1919.

By 1916, 28 AB and 29 Wannaeue were occupied by James and John Orr of "Kia Ora", Broadmeadows (Melway 5 H4.) By 1919 the 323 acres were occupied by Tommy Loft who had land at Greenvale, moving shortly afterwards to "Dalkeith" at Tullamarine (Melway 15 G-H 1-2.) Tommy started the Tullamarine Progress Association and was the Methodist Sunday School Superintendent for umpteen years; the late Ray Cairns remembered Tommy fondly.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE MELBOURNE , Monday. The following were appointed justices of the peace at the meeting of the State Executive Council today: J. L. Brown of Rye, T. Falls, Caulfield. Central Bailiwick; II. S. &�~btnoo etc.(P.4, The Ballarat Courier, 10-10-1916.)

SWAN HILL HOSPITAL MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the committee of management of the Swan Hill District Hospital was held on Friday night. Present-Messrs. Chas. t M'Donald (in the chair), ,W? Moore, J.. a Wright, T. M. Ghisholm, P.-Real and F.' arris. Correspondence. From J. L. Brown, Rye, in relation to septic tanks, and stating that tanks at certain hotels and other places at Sorrento were given satisfaction. -Mr. Brown to be thanked for the information supplied. (P.2,Swan Hill Guardian and Lake Boga Advocate, 16-8-1915.)
This seems to indicate that Brown had retained links with the Mallee town. I'm sure the journalist was responsible for the use of given instead of giving.

FLINDERS AND KANGERONG SHIRE. Mr Brown, Rye, applying for wire netting.-To be attended to.(P.4, Mornington Standard, 11-3-1911.)

Railways Standing Committee at Flinders. The members of the above committee-Messrs Cameron (chair man), Hicks, Melville, Billson, Ward and Hutchinson-visited Flinders on the sth inst, to take evidence on the question of railway extension on the Peninsula. Though the notice was short the residents submitted a splendid exhibition of all varieties. The fodder, root crops, and vegetables were remarkable ; and if anything, superior to those forward at any local show. The general and comprehensive exhibits of Messrs Barger and Buchanan were conclusive proof of the suitability of the district for a wide variety of products of the highest quality. Messrs Higgins, Kennedy and Davies submitted fine samples, and Mr D. Cairns showed one stool of wheat showing 64 stalks. Mr Brown's mellilotis grown on the hitherto useless sand drives at Rye was much admired.
(P.3, Mornington Standard, 15-2-1915.)

POSTSCRIPT.
I rang Linda Berndt to check on the ancestry of Cr Graeme Jennings and as an afterthought, asked if she knew anything about John/James Little Brown. She did!
James Brown's father was James L.Brown (c. 1821-Nov.1895)and his mother was Jane (nee McGuffie, c.1825-March 1911.) James was their first child, born in 1866 at Glenlyon, but was virtually an only child because Robert (c.1868-5-9-1869) died in infancy. The Rye pioneer's parents and brother were buried at Glenlyon.

In 1903,James was enrolled as a voter at both Bunyip South and Swan Hill; Jane Brown, possibly his mother, also being enrolled at Swan Hill. In 1909 he was described as a grazier and enrolled at Bunyip South and Bendigo, his address at the latter being Bayne St, as it was for Jane Brown.

James Little Brown married Margaret Annie Short in 1911. She was the sister of Rye identity, Tommy Short, who used to drive all the Rye youngsters to dances at Boneo etc. See pioneers' recollections in RYE PRIMARY SCHOOL 1667. This year also saw the death of James' mother, Jane. His wife's name was recorded as Anne Margaret or Annie Margaret on electoral rolls in 1911 (Rye), 1919 (Rye), 1924 ("Inverleigh", Thomas St, Dandenong),
1931, 1936, 1937 (5 Trentham St, Sandringham, 1936, 1937, and 1942 (88 Bay Rd, Sandringham.) In 1954, James was still living at 88 Bay Rd but Margaret's name was not on the electoral roll.

Thank you Linda!

Further rate research revealed the following.
J.L.Brown must have told the rate collector in 1911 that his name was actually JAMES because John was crossed out and James written very faintly above it (Assessment No.823.) Too faintly it seems because when he was preparing the next assessment, he must have missed the alteration and perpetuated the "John" myth. It seems that James was sick of this nonsense by 1919 when John was again crossed out and replaced with James. You'd think the rate collector would know the councillors' names, wouldn't you?

The 1911-12 rates also demonstrated the new occupants of the many properties that Jim Brown had remediated. My notemaking is unclear about William Dawson but he seemed to have had part of 35 Wannaeue. George Ball had 245 acres(33a,b and 35 Wannaeue), and 176 acres(32 Wannaeue-see below.) Jim Woonton had 164 acres (29), 102 acres (28A), and 95 acres (26A), all in Wannaeue. In 1912-13, George Ball had 245 acres, Andrew Leonard Ball* 214 acres, and Andrew, George and Hector Ball 261 acres.

Crown allotment 32 Wannaeue was not mentioned previously because the rate collector called it 32 Nepean in 1909 (assessment number 714.) This land consisted of 176 acres as the rate collector stated; he just had the parish wrong!Granted to J.A.Jenner in 1877, it fronts the east side of Springs Lane and the north side of Limestone Rd, its northern boundary adjoining The Cups Vineyard and Winery and its east boundary indicated by the west end of Kingston Heath. (Melway 252 B 1-3.)

When James Little Brown first arrived in Rye, he stayed with Robert Rowley for a while. The connection between the Doigs and Rowleys took place in the Mallee, and also the Shaws and Rowleys but I had assumed that was post world war 1. James obviously knew Robert before he arrived. It is possible that the family of J.L.Brown had previously lived on the Peninsula. James was obviously as keen to hear Robert Rowley's stories as Robert was to tell them. Thank you to Steve Johnson for another gem.

9th September 1924
"NO GOOD DAMPER INN."
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS.
Sir,-In the interesting article, "The Gippsland Mystery," on Saturday, by Ernest McCaughan, it is stated that a party of five whites and ten blacks were sent out under the leaderhip of De Villiers, an ex police officer who kept the extraordinary named No Good Damper Inn. Apropos of this, a story was related to me by the late Robert Rowley, then of Rye (a very old colonist who had known Buckley, the wild white man). The story, which may be of interest, is that about the year 1840 lime was being burnt about Sorrento and Rye. A layer of sheoak logs was laid on the ground, then a layer of limestone. Another layer of logs, then again stone, and so on, until there was a considerable stack. Fire was next applied. By this rough and ready, though wasteful, system, lime used in the building of early Melbourne was then burned. The lime was then "slacked", afterwards sieved through a fine sieve, and forwarded to Melbourne by ketch. One of these old windjammers had the misfortune to go aground near the site of Frankston. The lime was taken off undamaged, stacked, and care- fully covered a little way from the shore. A number of blacks were in the vicinity.

They had had some little experience of the white fellow's flour. When they found the lime, sieved and done up in small bags under a tarpaulin, they were sure they had got the genuine article in plenty. So they mustered in force, took away all they possibly could, and, fearing pursuit, did not stop running till they put about 12 miles between them and the stack of lime. The blacks then mixed their flour with water upon their 'possum rugs and put the dough in the ashes to bake, the result being spoiled rugs and bad damper. In the words of Mr. Rowley, "they called that place Dandenong," which means "no good damper.
-Yours, &c., J. L. BROWN, Sandringham, Sept. 8.