TO KNOW, KNOW, KNOW YOU
IS TO LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU.

So go the lyrics of a well-remembered song from my youth.
I know Dandenong,firstly as a place I passed through on my way to Bunyip holidays as a child. Secondly,in the 1980's when, as a 40 year old, I had the pleasure of boundary umpiring V.F.A. at Shepley Reserve and was captivated by the play of numbers 11, 21 and 31, one of whom was the great Darren Millane's brother.

Unfortunately Wikipedia's well-documented articles about places such as Dande do not inspire love.

Early history[edit]
Prior to the European settlement of Australia, the flat to undulating land was densely forested with red gum and was inhabited by the Woiwurrung Indigenous Australian tribe.

The name is generally thought to be derived from the Woiwurrung word "Tanjenong" meaning "lofty mountains" possibly referring to the nearby Dandenong ranges.[2][3]

Another popular theory is that the name comes from 'bad flour', or 'no good damper'. A local tale revolves around local aboriginals obtaining a bag of lime and mistakenly using it to make damper. An old local hotel was the 'No Good Damper Inn'.[4]

A third version has the name Dandenong coming from 'a burning' and 'the past' reflecting bushfires on the Dandenongs.[5]

European settlement[edit]
Joseph Hawdon established a pastoral run on Narra Narrawong in 1837, bringing cattle from Sydney by land. Soon a few timber cutters and a police camp were also located there. Dandenong Post Office opened on 1 July 1848.[6]

By 1850, the whole area had been taken up for grazing. Dandenong Creek was first bridged in 1840. A road was made from Melbourne, making Dandenong, by the late 1850s, an important staging post for travellers into Gippsland. It became known as the 'gateway to Gippsland'. A township was surveyed in 1852. Milling of the red gum timber became an important industry, and charcoal burning, tanning, quarrying and brick making also flourished. A livestock market was established in 1866.[7]

The Western Port Aboriginal Protectorate Station was located north-east of Dandenong from 1840 to 1844. This area had been an important meeting and ceremonial site for Aboriginal tribes. The Native Police Corps established its headquarters there until its disbandment in 1852. The Police Paddocks were then used for breeding and resting police horses.

By 1861, there were 40 houses in the township housing 193 people. Dandenong Shire was proclaimed in 1873. The Australian Handbook records the progress of the town by 1875.

The Dandenong Town Hall, Lonsdale Street, was built in Free Classical style in 1890 as the combined Shire Hall, Courthouse and Mechanics Institute, at a cost of about 12,000 pounds. The architects were Beswicke and Hutchins and the contractor McCullogh and McAlpine. The two-storey, stucco rendered brick building, on a bluestone base course, features a lofty, Mansard-roofed, corner clock tower and projecting end wings with serlian motif windows and capped by pedimented niches.[8]

LET'S SEE WHAT I CAN DO ABOUT THE ROMANCE OF DANDENONG'S HISTORY.

DROMANA AND NELSON RUDDUCK.
One would hardly expect a history of Dromana to provide details about Dandenong pioneers,but Colin McLear's A DREAMTIME OF DROMANA does. It tells of Samuel Rudduck's arrival and land purchases in various areas; the later arrival of his son,Nelson,who was carting between Dandenong and Gippsland when he met Jane Sophia, daughter of a Mr Chapman who had been a pioneer on Tullamarine Island until a disastrous hay stack fire occurred, and was running a pub at Springvale; the move of Jane and Nelson to Dromana in about 1871; and the artistic talent of Fred Warren whose work graced Methodist churches in Dande and Dromana.

ROBERT ROWLEY AND NO GOOD DAMPER.
By the early 1900's the backblocks of Rye were rabbit and ti-tree infested. James Little Brown, whose family I believe had earlier lived in the area, transformed the disaster area in quick time into the beautiful pasture one sees during a drive along Browns Rd. Upon arrival at Rye, he stayed for about a fortnight with Robert Rowley who had burnt lime near the Heads with Henry Cadby Wells, renowned later as a Frankston pioneer. Imagine the two men chatting by the fire-side about the old days.

"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 leadership of De Villiers, an ex-police officer who kept the extra-ordinary 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 wind-jammers had the misfortune to go aground near the site of Frankston. The lime was
taken off undamaged, stacked, and carefully 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. (P.4, Argus,9-9-1924.)

DR FARQUHAR McCRAE'S HASTY EXIT.
Two of Dandenong's streets are named after Dr Farquhar McCrae and John Fitgerald Leslie (Alphabetical)Foster. That is because the latter bought the Eumemmering run from the former. The deal did not go smoothly because the doctor had dudded Foster in some way. Foster challenged the doc to a duel and he fled to Sydney. Foster and his older brother William had another run called Leslie Park from 1840 in the parishes of Doutta Galla and Tullamarine. In 1843, William bought pre-emptive rights in both parishes straddling Sharps Rd and called his property "Springs". John bought land between Fosters Rd (now called Keilor Park Drive) and the Saltwater River which he called Leslie Banks.

Dr McCrae was an early grantee in the parish of Jika Jika, naming his property (bisected by today's Moreland Rd)after a family plantation in the West Indies called Moreland. However, the Doc had this farm managed by future Bulla pioneer, Michael Loeman, and bought "La Rose" on which he built the core of the historic bluestone WENTWORTH HOUSE on the north corner of Mitchell Pde and Le Cateau St(Melway 29 B1.) But then came the challenge from Alphabetical and Coiler Robertson bought La Rose.

The story of the challenge came from a history (possibly Richard Broome's BETWEEN TWO CREEKS, a history of Coburg), not trove, and I may never find an article about it. But the cause of it is easy to believe because Farquhar even reneged on repaying a loan that his brother, Andrew had given him,probably the reason Andrew was forced to become a squatter on Arthurs Seat circa 1843. The story described the doc's hasty departure for Sydney; is there any evidence of this? I did a "Dr Farquhar McCrae,Sydney" search on trove refined to the 1840's.

"McCrae Farquhar, M. D. Melbourne" was on a list of those qualified to give medical evidence at coroners" inquests.(The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) Saturday 22 January 1842 p 4.) However he must have departed Melbourne soon afterwards because he landed a job as surgeon at the Sydney infirmary and dispensary when it opened in 1845*(SYDNEY DISPENSARY AND INFIRMARY.
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Thursday 29 January 1846 p 2 Article.)

Election of medical officers to the Sydney Infirmary and ...
nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an3298540
Announcement of Dr. McCrae's candidature for the office of Surgeon to the Sydney Infirmary, about to be established, including his testimonials.)
*If I remember the Wentworth House heritage citation, Coiler Robertson was associated with "La Rose'from 1845.)

Did I remember the duel story correctly? I did read it nearly a quarter of a century ago!

Casey Cardinia - links to our past: Eumemmerring Run
caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com/2012/.../eumemmerring-run.ht...
Oct 29, 2012 - Foster also, in 1843, challenged Dr McCrae to a pistol duel over a land ... acres (747 hectares) in the Parish of Eumemmerring when he died.

The above website states that Foster held the run till 1842 when the lease was transferred to Edward Wilson (later owner, with the same partner, and editor, of The Argus, who retired because of blindness,to part of the Glengyle estate at Tullamarine which he named Arundel, and established a trust which helped Cr Jack of Flinders Shire to provide the Mornington Peninsula's first motorised ambulance) and James Stewart Johnston (later a prominent politician who established a vineyard on Craiglee at Sunbury.)

It also mentions that Alphabetical's cousin, William Stawell, drafted Victoria's(very squatter-centric) constitution, the author apparently being unaware that Alphabetical was involved as Colonial Secretary, and served as Acting Governor for a year after the ailing Latrobe's resignation.(William Stawell married a daughter of William Pomeroy Greene of Woodlands and Lady Stawell's memoirs can be seen at its historic homestead near Melbourne Airport.)


DANDENONG AND DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Welcome to the Dandenong and District Historical Society. Our services are open to you.

Our mission is to collect, document, research, preserve and make available to the wider community for their enjoyment and education items that show the development of Dandenong and District from early settlement to present day.

Visit our Resource Centre:
(open Wednesday 10.00am to 3.00pm)
The Houlahan Centre
186 Foster Street East
Dandenong, Victoria, Australia 3175

PH: + 61 (0)3 9794 8967

Email us >
Details re services, fees and charges >


I haven't read that much about Dandenong's history, but on this group's website, I thought I'd see if they know CLOW. This is what came up.

Local Family Histories Index
Corner Corrigan Clow Crichton Criddle Crook Cruickshank Crump DDDD Dallimore Dana Dawson De George …

PIONEERS.

LETTERS FROM VICTORIAN PIONEERS.
Mr. James Clow writes:
In the beginning of August 1838,Rev. Mr. Clow took possession of the cattle run, Corhanwarrabul, which was so named after the mountain that formed its north-eastern boundary, but his home-station was at Tirhatuan, that part of the run which is adjacent to the junction of the Narrewong with the Dandenong. Before that period the more eligible portion of the country beyond him had been taken up. Mr. John Highett, he has been informed, was the first settler that crossed the Dandenong with stock, and that he was followed by O'Connor and the Ruffys, and that next after them came Mr. Joseph Hawdon, who may be considered the first that settled on the Dandenong, as those that had preceded him had gone about eight or ten miles to the east of it. He transferred his right to the Dandenong run to Captain Lonsdale, who had Mr. Alfred Langhorne for his overseer at the time Mr. Clow settled at Tirhatuan. Their head station was at the bridge over the creek, where the present township of Dandenong is situated. They had one out-station, Eumemmering, and both of these were transferred to Dr. McCrae in 1839; and shortly afterwards Eumemmering was transferred by him to the Fosters, and by them to Johnston and Wilson, and by them to Mr. Power, by whom it is still held. The Dandenong station was retained by Dr. McCrae
for several years, and then became the property of its present occupant, Mr. R. C. Walker. The run, which
belongs at present to Mr. Charles Wedge, and which is generally known by the name of the Waterholes, was a part of country originally occupied by Mr. Hawdon, and has been since then in the possession of various owners.

Along the Dandenong, on the east side, towards the mountain, and adjacent to Eumemmering, was the Corhanwarrabul run, which was occupied twelve years by Mr. Clow, and transferred by him to Mr. Beilby, its present owner. In 1840 he formed an out-station close to the base of Corhanwarrabul, on one of three rivulets, which fall into a swamp, and which, on issuing from it, at its south-west extremity, compose the Narrewong creek.etc. (P.3, Bacchus Marsh Express,1-8-1903.)

Mr. JAMES CLOW writes:
At the time the Tirhatuan Station was formed, some of the natives expressed a determination to be revenged on one of the servant men. As soon as they saw him there, they recognised him as one whose conduct towards some of their women, before he came into Mr. Clow's service, had given them great offence. He confessed that he had been to blame, and asked for his discharge, which was immediately given him,and he was safely returned to Melbourne. It is probable that, had they had an opportunity, they would have murdered him; but in doing so would they have done more than has been done by many Europeans, though in a more refined way?
Like other savages, they are naturally revengeful, but it is to be fearedthat on too many occasions their
atrocities have not been committed without grievous provocation.

The next settler on the Dandenong was Mr. Thomas Napier, who now resides in the parish of Doutta Galla*. His run, which he took up about October 1839, lay along the western side of the creek, and extended from the Tirhatuan bridge to Scott's bridge.
(*Google STRATHMORE, RAY GIBB, NAPIER for details.)

About a year afterwards he sold it to Mr. Scott, who died in Melbourne before he went to live there; but it was occupied by Mrs. Scott and family for two or three years, when they formed a small station on the other side of the creek, and sold the other to a family of the name of Drew.
It was afterwards subdivided and occupied by a number of small settlers, who were principally employed
in taking timber from that neighbourhood to Melbourne and other places for the purpose of building and the enclosing of purchased land.

Two brothers of the name of Rourke, who were, in the first instance, sawyers on Mrs. Scott's original run, formed the station, which the elder brother still holds near the sources of the Dandenong.

The aboriginal station of Narre Narre Warren was formed by Mr.Assistant Protector Thomas, and is so well known, that it is unnecessary for me to give you any account of it.
(See I SUCCEEDED ONCE by Marie Hansen Fels.)

The first settlers below the Dandenong bridge, and beyond the run belonging to Messrs. Lonsdale and Langhorne, were Mr. Solomon and Major Frazer. The former had his station above the swamp through which the Dandenong passes, and the latter below it on the bay, of Port Phillip.

About six miles in a north-easterly direction from Tirhatuan, on the south side of the principal stream
which descends from the mountain of Corhanwarrabul, and which mainly contributes to form the Narrewong Creek below the swamp, is the sheep station of Monbolloc, which was first occupied by Messrs. Kerr and Dobie. It is small and scrubby,and has passed through many hands since its formation.

On the east of Monbolloc is the small station of Will-Will-Rook,originally formed and still possessed by Mr. Varcoe and his family.

About the month of January 1850,during one night and a part of the succeeding day, an unusual noise,somewhat resembling that of a bush fire at a distance, was heard at Tirhatuan, and at an out-station about three miles off, situated near the Gap in the ranges behind Narre Narre Warren. At the former place it was heard by Mrs. Clow and others living there. She rose in the night time, and looked out to see if any of the huts was on fire; and during the day she went repeatedly into the verandah in front of the house to listen; and as the noise seemed to come from the rises on the west side of the creek, she sent two per(sic) as far as the bridge with a view to ascertain what it was. On their return they said they could not tell, but that when they were at the bridge the noise seemed to be at the house. The overseer happened to come, and she spoke of it to him, but he said that he had not noticed any unusual sound; neither did he then perceive any. He was in a hurry and went off immediately; but, happening to go to the outstation at the Mountain Gap, he was asked by the two men there,
both of whom had resided in the colony only a short time, and were therefore perhaps more liable to be
easily alarmed, whether the fire was coming that way. He said he did not know of any fire. They told him that they had not slept during the night, for they had heard a noise as of a great fire at a distance, and were afraid it was coming in that direction, and that they could still discern it. He was thus forcibly reminded of what he had just before heard, and on going a little way to a rise, he listened, and acknowledged that he could distinctly hear a noise similar to that which had been described, but could not tell what occasioned it.

As heard by Mrs. Clow, the noise was not always the same, but rose and fell, and after dying away for a little would begin again and gradually increase. To some it seemed to be in the air, but the prevailing impression
on her mind at the time, and that to which she is still inclined, is, that it was subterranean. It will perhaps be considered corroborative of this opinion that, on two previous occasions, an earthquake had been distinctly heard and felt there. The first was experienced in February or March 1843. It occurred at midnight, when the moon was full, the sky cloudless, and the wind still. To me and others who heard it at Tirhatuan, the sound was as if a light conveyance, making a sharp rattling noise, had passed rapidly between the house and the kitchen-these buildings being about eight yards apart.
The tremor, though distinctly felt, was not great; but at the outstation, near the base of the mountain, both the shock and the noise were very considerable. The two men sleeping in the hut were instantly roused, and ran out to ascertain what was the matter; but neither seeing nor hearing anything unusual, they conjectured what had happened; and as the shock was experienced in the same manner at Rourke's station, about five miles off, it would appear that it was severest along the base of the mountain.
To be continued.(P.3, Bacchus Marsh Express, 24-10-1903.)

Mr. James Clow writes:
(Continued.)
The aborigines of this island consider that when they can compass the death of a friend or foe by stratagem instead of in open warfare it enhances their standing as skilful warriors according to their notions of one. Previously to the country which lies on the Western side of the bay of Western Port (between what was at one time Manton's and Allan's run) being occupied by squatters in the year 1835, the Gippsland blacks attackedsome five-and-twenty of the Western Port tribe in the gray(sic) of the morning, and cut off every one of them. Their tombs consist of many cairns plainly visible to this day.

When I went to reside at Dandenong in 1838, the blacks told me of the occurrence, and that they never had been able to avenge the wrong. Shortly after I settled amongst them I gave "Jack Weatherly," one of the tribe, a double-barrelled gun to procure for me the lyre-bird. He was employed occasionally in this way when opportunity offered, and with practice became a very good shot. One day, without my expressing a wish for any more of the
birds, he applied for a much larger supply of powder and shot than I had formerly given him at one time,
stating that a large party of his tribe were going to procure lyrebirds, and promising me, after four or five days, no end of curiosities in the shape of birds of the air and denizens of the forest. As he had always satisfactorily accounted for what he had before, I gave him it without reluctance. The days lapsed into weeks,when he stalked up to the station, evidently elated with some success, which he was not long in telling me.

After getting the powder, he went to council of war which was being held to take into consideration the glorious opportunity now presented to the tribe of avenging the onslaught I have alluded to above. The old men, who always shut their eyes and stopped their ears when they saw a gun being fired off, decreed that the powder and shot which had just been received from the various squatters on the ostensible plea of procuring lyre-birds, &c., should,by Jack Weatherly (who was appointed leader of the expedition) and those of his compeers who were proficient in the use of their guns, be buried in the skins of the wild blackfellows as they termed them
(to show them the new mode of warfare they had adopted, and thus to prevent a recurrence of their visits)-wild in contradistinction to the life of amity they themselves led with the white men.

After four days' march through the barren mountains which separate Western Port District from Gippsland, they on the fifth day sighted the smoke of some blacks' fires on the skirts of the beautiful pastoral district there. On the following day, about mid-day, they surprised the camp, making prisoners of all in it, which consisted only of some old men and some children. They then went in search of the able-bodied men, whom they espied very busily engaged in fishing on the banks of a large river not far off. They managed to sneak upon them within ten or twenty yards, and then blazed into them, killing or severely wounding every one of them, seven in number. Those who escaped the first volley jumped into the river and swam across, but the second volley brought them all down.

After cutting out their kidney fat, they took as much of the carcases as they could well carry on their return route, and having mustered their forces at the camp where they had captured the old men and children, they despatched them also, and then commenced their retreat. When they reached the first station on the Western Port side of the mountains, they still had portions of the legs and thighs of their enemies, which they had not consumed, but reserved for those of the tribe who were not present. Many maintain that the aborigines are not cannibals. They are not cannibals for the love of human flesh, but there are occasions when they do eat their enemies, as in the present instance, where they did it to render, according to their notions, the deed of retaliation more complete, and under an impression that partaking of the flesh of an enemy tended to confirm hatredand foster a passion for fresh deeds of vengeance. (P.4, Bacchus Marsh Express, 26-3-1904.)

To be completed as time allows.