QUINLAN
The Quinlans were involved in Airport West and along Oaklands Rd. as well as in Tullamarine.
Keilor?s rate record of 1900-1 has a memo at the end of the section listing ratepayers north of Mount Alexander Road (as Keilor Rd. was still known) that Rupert Percy Steele had 157 acres in lots F and G of section 22 as well as leasing ?Niddrie? and M.Quinlan had 26 acres in section 23 and 142 acres in 1,2,3,4,?,? section 22. Steele?s 157 acres were between Parer Rd. and a line indicated by the northern boundary of St. Christopher?s School, with Thomas St. and Nomad Rd. being the west and east boundaries.
Steele had obviously just bought or started leasing this land from the Stevensons of ?Niddrie?.
Quinlan?s 26 acres in section 23 had to be west of Bulla Rd (now Wirraway Rd.), with English St. and Nomad Rd. its other boundaries. The 142 acres, which so confused the rate collector, would have been mainly in lot E of section 22, which was between Moore Rd. and Parer Rd., divided into lots 1,2,3 and 4, and totalled 127 156/160 acres. East of this was lot J of section 22 , consisting of 13 89/ 160 acres, and with Bulla Rd. as its eastern boundary. This makes a total of 141 85/160 acres so the rate collector was accurate about the acreage even though the lot names had him stumped. While recording Tullamarine ratepayers for 1913, I fortunately recorded Maurice Quinlan as having been assessed on 189 acres in sections 22 and 23, which would have been the 26 and 142 acres described above plus lot G of section 22 ( which was an almost triangular block with Nomad Rd. and English St. as its E. and S. boundaries and the police air wing indicating the apex) consisting of 9 99/160 acres; this had been farmed by Steele in 1900-1.
So it can be seen that this quote from the article AIRPORT WEST WAS OAT FARMS in PROCLAMATION OF THE CITY OF KEILOR 29-4-1961 was based on fact:
The 260 acre farm of Dr. Morgan?s father (i.e. NIDDRIE) and the farm of a neighbour, Maurice Quinlan, occupied much of what is today Airport West and the airport. Niddrie was actually 249 acres but that?s another matter. On 29-7-1935, Lawrence Patrick Quinlan, whose address was given as Kilsyth, Croydon, was buried in the R.C. section at Keilor cemetery. This would indicate, to paraphrase Peter Allen?s lyrics, the Quinlans still called Keilor home.
Morris (Sic) Quinlan was listed as a resident of Oaklands Junction in the 1906 Sands & McDougall directory. As his name is tacked on unalphabetically at the end, he may have just arrived in that area. Bulla?s ratebook of 1914-5 shows that he had 510 acres in the East Riding in the parishes of Bulla and Bolinda and was leasing another 180 acres in Bulla parish to Thomas Millar. The 510 acres were probably the same 510 acres in the two parishes which grazier Robert Fairbairn had been leasing from L.J.Caffikin in 1891 when the Coolahans were occupying only 100 acres and leasing 429 acres to John Butler. A Bulla parish map has lots 3 and 4 of section 21 (494 acres) and section 15 (about the same area) labelled M.Coolahan. This pioneer, who had arrived in Melbourne in 1840 and settled on land he?d bought at Bulla in about 1849, still owned 820 acres in 1888, so he must have sold about 500 acres shortly afterwards and I believe that this was the land which Quinlan was leasing in 1914-5. The Coolahans? approximate 1000 acres is indicated by Melway 383,B-H/1-4, with an easterly extension of Sunningdale Rd. (parallel with Gellies Rd.) forming the southern boundary. The parish of Bolinda is just north of map 383. This was the area in which the 510 acres were located. The 180 acres which Quinlan was leasing to Thomas Millar was probably the farm known as ?Airey?s? (described as house and 181 acres, part 5B, when Noel V. Seeley owned it in 1922-3.) This was between Wildwood Rd. and Lochton (about 177, B-C/2), the part of Airey?s grant north of the road having become part of William Michie?s Cairnbrae.
Also in 1914-5, Maurice Quinlan owned a total of 1963 acres, consisting of Warlaby (384,G-K/6-9), Oaklands (385,A-D/ 6-9) both of a square mile or 640 acres, 440 acres which was probably the northern half of section 17 which Thomas Ryan owned in 1922 (i.e. 385,A/1-2 and west to Deep Creek), and 243 acres which might have been west of the 440 acres (about a mile east of 383,K/1).
In Bulla?s rates of 1922-3, the Quinlans were lessees rather than owners. Maurice, Lawrence and John Quinlan were leasing a house and 640 acres, section 10, (Oaklands) from the O?Halloran Estate while John and Stanley Quinlan were leasing 804 acres in lots A and B of section 4 of the parish of Bolinda from J.J.Feehan. The latter was probably near Feehans Rd. which is shown running east from Wildwood Rd. on Melway Key Map 8. Incidentally, someone, probably Bob Blackwell, told me that Maurice Quinlan was a bookmaker.
Maurice Quinlan was indeed a bookmaker according to Sam Merrifield?s House Names Index edited by Lenore Frost. This book mentions that Maurice Quinlan owned the bluestone "ABERFELDIE" mansion built by James Robertson (J.R.2 in Robertson entry) between the south ends of Combermere and Aberfeldie Sts.

Broadmeadows? rate record of 1879-80 shows that Timothy Quinlan owned a house and land (N.A.V.12 POUNDS) at Tullamarine. This house was probably near the Junction Hotel on the Mobil garage site (5,J/12) which he also owned and was leasing to James Matthews. In 1876 the hotel had been owned by S.Quinlan and leased by S.Cummins.