I don't believe in repeating history that's already been written but basically that's what I did in "Canterbury Tales" (okay I copied the title too!) These first two poems were written two weeks after I started researching Peninsula history; I don't mess around!


`GET TO THE POINT AUGUST 2010.

Two creeks joined before they could reach
The breaking waves at Safety Beach:
One is named after Henry Dunn
Who lived on the Survey until 1851.


The creek near Mt. Martha named after Tassell
Now involved in developer financial hassle:
George Peatey was nearby in '59, (160,G/4)
Then owned 100 acres where they now make wine.(160, K/6)


Hume made pipes locally before work was begun
That brought water from Dromana Basin in 1941.
Their aim was as mine; get to the Point-
Past Rosebud and Rye, seal every joint.


Rudduck and Karadoc both mean red breast;
By Nelson's generosity I'm really impressed:
For the church at Rosebud his help was at hand;
For Dromana's hospital he offered more land.


Sarah Ann Cain, lost for four days and five nights
Round mid 1840's, poor little mite.
But rescuers found her; the near dead tot they took
To George Smith's nearby Wooloowoolooboolook. (259,E/4)


Arthurs Seat homestead and schoolhouse by Tuck,
Georgiana's diary, which we still have by luck;
Frenetic efforts by Spencer Jackson
To make Dromana and its mount a tourist attraction.


Boniyong, a run settled by Meyrick
(The spelling of both has changed just a skerrick);
The Cairns family came in 1852;
Some moved to Cape Schanck, Rosebud and further west too.


In foul weather, Vine Bucher and Lacco took a brave stance;
Joe Peters, black fiddler, played music to dance.
These fishers, Cain and Stenniken's craft on the bay
Carrying lime, timber and fish away.




When Owen Cain came, they were fairly alone;
Then he built a fine house by the name of Tyrone,
And the family continued burning the lime:
Cains number one for Rye and the Buds at this time!(2010!)



Dod Jennings played for the Pivot, then tried Camperdown.
Boy if he lost his hat he would frown!
After waiting at Anthonys Nose for the sea to subside
They reached Kariah, fifty years to reside.



Robert Rowley was at the heads, Ford and Sullivan too;
Bullocks, veg and limeburning the things they would do.
John Watts proposed to Jane Skelton when she was one more than five;
Jumped ship (Dromana in a tub) worked lime, wed her in 1865.


Rob Rowley and Clarrie Jennings led Rye Footy Club!
Ford and Purves' petition got a snub:
? Stop the fence from White Cliff to the surf
?Blast police horses-for our bullocks the turf!?




NOTES ABOUT ?GET TO THE POINT?
SOURCES:
A. A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA Colin McLear
B. ON THE ROAD TO ROSEBUD Peter Wilson
C.RYE PRIMARY SCHOOL 1667 Patricia Appleford
D.JENNINGS: A PIONEERING RYE FAMILY Linda Berndt SOUTHERN PENINSULA NEWS 17-7-2010 P20
E.THOSE COURAGEOUS HARDY WOMEN Betty McMeekin
F. MPNFL ?RECORD? TEAMLISTS
G. THE CAIRNS FAMILY OF BONEO Peter Wilson.

Numbers relate to verses and letters to sources:
1 a 2a 3b 4ab 5a 6a 7g 8bc 9 cf 10d 11e 12 cb.
Safety Beach was part of Jamieson's Special Survey which went east to Bulldog Creek Rd (161,K/3)
Henry Dunn was there 1846-1851and was followed by Brown-Lee, Marshall and Cottier in 1851, joined by Tassel, Peatey, Griffith/Eatons (1860) Paterson/McLear(1861) and Connell.Cottier soon bought 282 acres bounded by the present Jetty Rd. and Lombardy St. and later built the original Rye
Hotel with John Campbell.
Walter Gibson took over many of their leases as well as buying Cottier's 282 acres between Palmerston Ave and Boundary Rd. He rerouted the last mile of Dunns Creek which originally flowed into the creek in which he washed his sheep. Peatey's 100 acres is now occupied byDromana Estate Winery.
Nelson Rudduck was a leader of the community. The Methodist Church on the Rosebud foreshore became redundant when the United Church was formed and is now a medical centre. The hopital at Dromana was on part of his property, Karadoc? between the highway, Williams St. and Spencer Ave the last street probably being named after Spencer Jackson.
Henry Tuck built the homestead and schoolroom and his son,whose poetry is available at the museum at Sorrento, was born there.
David Cairns settled near Cape Schanck in 1888 and Cairns Bay ( 38 degrees 29 minutes south, 144degrees 57 minutes east ) was named after him according to Eric Bird's website on place names on the coast of Victoria. He also lists Rowley Cove, between Gunnamatta (aboriginal term for sandhills) and Cape Schanck,(38 d 29m south, 144d 53m e).
The Portugese imported African slaves to the Cape Verde Islands. Two descendants of these slaves were involved in our history, Joe Peters at Rosebud and Emanuel De Santo at Rye (Rye P.S. 1667 P117, 121).
Owen Cain,Sullivan and his son-in-law Ford, Skelton,Robert Rowley and his widowed mother-now Mrs Kenyon,and their families would have been, for years,the only residents between the heads and the Tootgarook Run occupied by Edward Hobson and then James Purves.
Michael Cain is No 1 for Rosebud, and Ben Cain wears the same number for Rye.Sorrento's No 1
is Brendan Cairns and other pioneering names listed in Nepean League are Kenyon,Stringer, Eaton, Caldwell,Appleford, Jennings, Dunn,Page and Baxter.
At Anthony's Nose a traveller had two choices: wait for low tide and go along the packed sand or climb Arthurs Seat, from what is now the base of Foote St, on the road to Cape Schanck.
Purves and Ford ,who had 800 bullocks between them,knew that fencing off tharea west of the white cliff would deny them free grazing. They had gone to all their employees and neighbours, most of them lime burners, struggling farmers or in some way obligated to Purves and Ford, to gain their support. An official was sent from the Quarantine Station to speak to the petitioners and found that many of them actually wanted the fence (which was never built anyway.)



ALONG THE BACK TRACK C.1860 AUGUST 2010
Charles Graves (back from Melbourne with goods
To hawk to those further west near she-oak woods)
With Bill, the 22 year old son of his partner, Widow McLear,
Left Bill at ?The Willow?; his helper now Godfrey in his tenth year.

The son of Henry ?Wingy? Wilson, named for a crushed hand,
A bullocky living on the eastern end of Jamieson's Survey land.
To the north, over yankee Griffith's maize, Charles saw
Big Clarke's wedding present to his son-in-law.

To the left, young Godfrey saw Cottier's hut coming nigh
Now housing a hotel which ?Cutter? called the ?Rye?.
?Look,? said Charles, ?Pidota and Rowley do it tough;?
?The bay at the moment is looking quite rough!?

When they reached The Rocks, Graves headed back
To climb Arthurs Seat on the Cape Schanck track.
?We'll never get through that surf alive
And I'll not wait asleep like Meyrick in 1845!?

As they climbed with Gracefield on their left
Charles exclaimed, ?There's a vine up in the cleft!?
?Do you mean the Swamp Village's Fred the Greek??
Young Wilson asked with tongue in cheek.

So they climbed through Burrell's 12 500 acres,
Dragging logs on downhill slopes as brakers,
Past the back road to Purves' Tootgarook.
Soon, blonde Cairns on their right, left Wooloowoolooboolook.

At the next crossroad right turn and then left;
Graves' handling of the drapery laden cart was deft.
Godfrey saw the smoke, sobbed ?Cometh my time!?
Don't panic lad; they're just burning lime.?

We started in Kangerong,
Through Wannaeue travelled along
Features and people of history seein'.
Now we stop as we reach Nepean.

As they turned back to Kangerong
A well-known man came riding strong,
(With five year old Maria), running late.
Godfrey wed Maria in 1878.




NOTES FOR ALONG THE BACK TRACK.

1 Henry Wilson's accident probably happened after Godfrey's marriage but I just had to use
?Wingy?.
2. The well-known man in verse 9 was Stenniken who lived at Rye but had some land at Melway 151, D/10 near Wilson's 125 acres.
3. The Griffith and Eaton families came from America. W.J.T.Clarke gave the northern part of the Survey, including Wilson's 125 acre lease, to his son-in-law, Bruce. (Bruce Rd.) Big Clarke's land was south of that owned by the family of another son-in-law, Hearn. Clarke's life ended at Hearn's Roseneath in Essendon which was later owned by William Salmon.(28, G/1)
4. Cottier took the name and the licence to White Cliff when he and John Campbell built a hotel there.
5. Peter Pidota was an early fisherman, loading and unloading with the help of Rowley, near Sheepwash Creek.
6. THE ROCKS was an early name for Anthony's Nose. The Cape Schanck track started where Latrobe Pde does today. The name change to Bayview Rd was probably driven by developers wanting to promote the spectacular views.
7. Meyrick fell asleep while waiting for low tide as he made his way to Boneo in 1845.
8. William Grace planted grapes in a hollow in the mountain slope of Gracefield. One of the Sullivans married one of his daughters. He built the Gracefield Hotel which was demolished by the Hunts circa 1927 so they could build the present Rye Hotel. Cottier's hotel was further east.
9. Fred Vine, whose children were possibly sailed to the Dromana School until the Rosebud one opened much later.
10. The Burrells took over the Arthurs Seat Run following the McCraes' departure in 1851.
11. This method of making a safe descent was used well into the 1920's.
12. Hiscock Road, now closed, is shown between Colchester Rd and the street named after the successful butcher known to you as WINGY.
13. The break in Browns Rd at Truemans Rd.
14. Three parish names.