THE LADY OF THE LAKE HOTEL AT TULLAMARINE (1846-1861).
POSTSCRIPT. The earliest reference that I had seen to the hotel was in 1849 but that has changed as of 6:50 on 27-11-2017. HENCE THE TITLE OF THIS JOURNAL HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY ALTERED IN REGARD TO THE HOTEL'S YEAR OF ESTABLISHMENT. The hotel was already occupied in February 1846 and could have been established well before that*. The 52 or 54 acre farm mentioned as being seven miles from Melbourne was probably at about Melway 16 C7 if the stated distance is correct. The 10 km arc equivalent to 6.21371 miles, passes through the Tullamarine Freeway/Bulla Road interchange on the Melway key map. 11-2-1846
* It is more than likely that David William O'Nial's hotel had been built in late 1845 as his first application for a licence that has been found was refused on 21-4-1846.
21-4-1846



The Victorian Farmers Journal and Gardeners Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1860 - 1862) Saturday 19 October 1861 p 16 Article
FARMING IN THE DEEP CREEK DISTRICT.
TULLAMARINE.
At a distance of about twelve miles from
Melbourne, on the road to Bulla, is situated
Tullamarine, hamlet, village, or township,
whichever it may be, but under which of these
designations it now ranks we should be rather
perplexed to decide. Time was, when Tulla-
marine might have hoped for development into
a full-blown village, but that was ere railways
had an existence, and before also the now
capitally metalled, but little used road, had re-
placed the rugged and at times im-
passable bush track, the only faci-
lity afforded for travellings in those days.
It was then that butchers, bakers, and store
keepers, plied an active trade with the multi-
tude of draymen who thronged to the levées of
the “Lady of the Lake,” (peace to her ashes)
alas, no more. The “Beech Tree” alone now
offers the shade of its wide spreading branches,
as a rest for the thirsty traveller; the slight
wooden tenements, in which a thriving business
once was done, are apparently deserted, and the
traffic on the road is insufficient to prevent the
metal becoming nearly as verdant as the fields.(ETC.)

An attempt to find an article about the destruction of the Lady of the Lake Hotel at Tullamarine occupied hours with not one result being found. However, I'd known of the above article for years and it indicates that by 19-10-1861 this hotel had been burnt to the ground and that the Beech Tree Hotel was already in operation, information that I don't recall being in R.K.Coles' COLLECTION OF HOTEL RECORDS. (I no longer have my notes from this source but it certainly did not mention the demise of the Lady of the Lake and if I remember correctly, the first mention of the Beech Tree concerned a ball held in 1864.

Here is some information about the Lady of the Lake.
THE LADY OF THE LAKE (Melway 5 H11.)This hotel was established by David William O'Nial. His wife's name was Ellen. David O'Nial died. Ellen O'Nial did not die! I suspected 23 years ago that Ellen O'Nial did not die when I was researching Broadmeadows rate records in relation to John Cock who leased a farm called "Broombank" from 1867 until 1882, when he started a lease on Donald Kennedy's "Dundonald Estate" between Broadmeadows Township and Gellibrand Hill.

He was followed on "Broombank" by the Williams family. One of the sons of that family, Colin Williams, was 99 when I first met him. Colin told me of the many coins found by his father while ploughing.

David and Ellen O'Nial had four daughters; two of them married but the ones Colin told me about were the two spinsters, Catherine and Minnie. These two were well-known to Colin and to Harry Heaps and Maggie Loft, another two of my informants.

Catherine and Minnie told Colin how they had peered through the Cape Broom hedge that gave Broombank its name as the Burke and Landells expedition passed on its way to the second encampment near the site of the Inverness Hotel. Because of childhood attachments such as this momentous occasion in Australian history, when the ownership of Broombank passed to the two spinsters, who lived in Docker St, Richmond according to the rate records, they refused to sell the property.

After the Williams moved, Ray Loft (son of Tommy Loft of Dalkeith) leased Broombank for many years until, on the death of the last remaining spinster, he was finally able to purchase the farm. Ray lived in the Californian Bungalow at 3 Eumarella St on Tommy's subdivision. The Broombank homestead was over 80 years old and probably a restorer's delight as the real estate agents put it.

Colin Williams, who showed me a photo of the building, told me that it was at the end of a 70 yard driveway from Bulla Rd; When Ray Loft subdivided Broombank in 1952, he named the drive after his wife, Maggie (nee Millar.) The homestead was NOT*, of course, the old Lady of the Lake Hotel! John Cock told Colin's dad that it was haunted.
(*POSTSCRIPT 26-11-2017. As the hotel was mere ashes by October 1861- as described in the farms article- it could not have been the same building as the homestead.)

Okay I'll fess up! Firstly, you probably wondered what this Burke and Landells business was. Landells, who organised the camels was second in charge but left in a huff. William Wright (not Tulip) was engaged to replace him but lingered at Menindee, thus causing the deaths of Burke, Wills and Gray.Secondly, Mrs Ellen O'Nial did not die, but Mrs Ellen Beaman , relict of the late David William O'Nial did. I thank the Broadmeadows rate collector for filling in the details regarding the owner of the 33/37 acres that John Cock was leasing- R.Beaman. Without this detail I would never have thought of googling Beaman.

Before moving onto a chronology with the aid of trove, I need to tell you about SPRINGS , which was given as the location of the Lady of the Lake. Springs was a very vague location, about as vague as Moonee Moonee Ponds, which is mentioned in my historical howlers journal. The fact that SPRINGS was on the way to both Keilor and Bulla made Isaac Batey think that Jack O'Nial may have also operated the Springfield Inn on Keilor Rd. Spring St, Tullamarine and Spring St, Niddrie are reminders of how vague the location name was.

By 1849 the name Springs was used to describe the location of Sandy Smith of "Norwood" (Melway 27 E2-3), James Laverty of "Spring Vale" (15 E9) and David O'Nial of the Lady of the Lake (5 H 11.)This obviously created confusion so by 1856 Bernard Cavenagh (sic, Kavanagh) of Springfield, James Collier (55 acres 2 roods and 3 perches comprising the northern part of the Niddrie quarry- east of Quinn Grove Reserve), Patrick Phelan of Spring Park (bisected by McNamara Ave)and Edward Fegan, operator of the North Pole Inn, were all described as living at Springfield. You might find something common to most of the farm names; they have spring as the first part of the name. Add to these James Robertson's Spring Hill, which became Aberfeldie!

Why a 10 year lease was issued to William and John Foster in 1840 for Leslie Park is beyond me, for by the end of 1842, land in the parish of Tullamarine was put up for alienation (purchase from the Crown.) William V.Leslie Foster received the grants for section 3 Tullamarine and 21 Doutta Galla on opposite sides of Sharps Rd and west of the line of Broadmeadows Rd. John Foster received the grant for 20 Doutta Galla, between Fosters Rd (now Keilor Park Dr.) and the river, which was later called "Spring Farm" (The Argus, 29-11-1867 p.2). It is likely that the brothers called all of this land "The Springs" as by 1850 there was a school on it with "The Springs" used to describe its location. The name was also used to describe the Fosters' property in the case of a murder that took place on the road to Keilor in, I think, 1843.Why would they call their property "The Springs"?

The Fosters were early squatters, John Vasey Leslie Foster (later John Fitzgerald Leslie Foster) had challenged Dr Farquhar McCrae to a duel over the transfer of the Eumemmerring run (which accounts for Foster and McCrae Sts in the heart of Dandenong) and in 1840, John and his older brother, William, were given a 10 year lease on Leslie Park, which Sam Merrifield stated was located at Essendon. (Sam Merrifield, who was born in the old Wordsworth house on the south side of the Strathconnan Square/ Melrose Dr. corner, according to Harry Heaps,became a much loved member of parliament and historian; the Moonee Ponds Library is named after him.)

Back to the origin of the name. In the 1860 Geological Survey Map at a spot north of the present Camp Hill Park (Melway 15 J1) is written "a constant supply of excellent water." As the contours do not indicate a catchment, it must be assumed that the origin of the water was a spring.The water then flowed west one chain into section 3, curving south on the east side of the Spring St (Leo Dineen) Reserve and through the pedestrian access at the south end of the oval where it met another stream that originated north west of section 3 and flowed through what became Michael Reddan's "Brightview". It then joined the Steele chain of ponds at 15 F 7, which was set aside as a water reserve in the subdivision of 18A Doutta Galla.(Memorial 24734(2).
Information about SPRINGS comes mainly from page 95 of my "Early Landowners;Parish of Doutta Galla."

LADY OF THE LAKE ON TROVE.(All from The Argus unless otherwise stated.)
16-4-1851. LICENCES.P. Donohue's application for the filthy Bridge Inn at Bulla was postponed but that of D.W.O'Nial, Springs, was granted.

115-5-1852 p.2. An inquest into the death of Joseph Morgan, bullock driver was held at the Lady of the Lake Hotel.

19-4-1855 p.7, MISCELLANEOUS. The secretary of the Port Phillip Farmers'Society, A.E.McCracken advertised that body's annual ploughing match, to be held on the farm of Mr Beaman, Lady of the Lake Hotel, Deep Creek Rd, on 10th May. (The secretary was Alexander Earle McCracken of Butzbach, brother of Robert and Peter, who returned to Scotland in 1857 due to his wife's poor health. See the J.T.Smith and his electors journal.)

26-5-1855 p.4, BIRTHS. At the Lady of the Lake Hotel on the 23rd, the wife of Richard Beaman of a son.

13-11-1856 p.5. INSOLVENT COURT. In re Richard Beaman. The official assignee elected to abandon the property over which Mr Foster held security. This was almost certainly the Lady of the Lake. The northern part of Foster's section 3, east of Melrose Drive, was bounded on the east by today's Mickleham Rd to a point just north of Londrew Court. Up to 1952, It contained only two properties, Broombank and the land associated with the Junction Hotel that became known as the Junction Estate. The rest of the northern 240 acres (west of Melrose Dr.) can be accounted for: Charles Nash ("Bayview" of 109 1/2 acres) and smaller blocks owned by Nash and George Mounsey, J.F.Blanche (teacher at the Wesleyan school at the Cherie St bend), Thomas Purvis, John Wright and Ann Parr. They were all Wesleyans.

15-4-1865 p.5. W.J.O'Nial was given a 30 yard start in the half mile handicap and was also entered in the sack race over 80 yards at the Melbourne Amateur Athletic Sports on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He might have been related to David.

20-2-1875 p.1, MARRIAGES. On 9-11-1874 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Charles John, the only son of Richard Beaman Esq., Collingwood to Elizabeth Neil, second surviving daughter of Andrew Knox Esq. late of Edinburgh.As Charles was an only son, he may have been the boy whose birth was reported on 26-5-1855. It's a pity that the mother's name was not mentioned in these notices and that I don't remember the address of the owner of "Broombank" in 1867 when John Cock started leasing it so that I could state with certainty that Richard was the new owner of "Broombank"circa 1855 and Charles his newborn, and only, son.


23-12-1884 p.1.DEATH. On the 21st at her residence, Clyde Terrace,Collingwood, Ellen Theresa, the dearly beloved wife of Richard Beaman and relict of the late David William O'Nial, an old colonist of 43 years standing.

(Postscript, 22-11-2017. Above, I have mentioned vaguely that David William O'Nial had died.
DIED.
On the 4th inst., at his residence, at the Lady of the Lake Springs, Mount Macedon Road, Mr David William O'Nial, aged 38 years. (P.4, Argus, 6-1-1853.)

In the Supreme Court of the Colony of Victoria.
ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION.
In the goods and chattels, rights and credits of David William O'Nial, late of the Springs, in said Colony, Licensed Victualler, deceased.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that at the expiration of fourteen days from this date, an application will be made to this Honorable Court, that letters of Administration of all and singular the goods, chattels, rights and credits of the said David William O'Nial, may be granted unto Ellen O'Nial, the widow of the said David William O'Nial.
Dated this twenty-fifth day of January, A.D.1853.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4789243

GOODS OF D. W. O'NIALL, DECEASED.
Administration granted to the widow of deceased.
Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 - 1856) Saturday 12 February 1853 p 1 Article

It can be assumed that the Lady of the Lake was still standing in January 1861 when the following advertisement was published. It is unlikely that it was still operating. Richard Beaman, who married Ellen (and her inheritance) had become insolvent in 1856 and the hotel was, apparently unsuccessfully, advertised for sale in 1857.

PORT PHILLIP FARMERS' SOCIETY.
Trial of Mowers and Reapers.
The public trial of Mowers and Reapers will take place at Mr. William Dewar's farm, near the Lady of the Lake Hotel, Deep Creek road,on Friday, 4th January. The machines must be in the field and ready to start at nine o'clock a.m. By Order, -ARTHUR J. C. SKILLING, Secretary.(P.1, The Age, 3-1-1861.)

On the 23rd inst, at the Lady of the Lake, the wife of Mr. Richard Beaman, of a son.(P.4, Argus, 26-5-1855.)
PLOUGHING MATCH, Open to all the Colony.
-The Port Phillp Farmers' Society (Patron,His Excellenoy Sir Charles Hotham, K.C.B.), will hold its Annual Ploughing Match, on the Farm of Mr. Beaman, Lady of the Lake Hotel, Deep Creek Road, 10th May (rain permitting).
(P.7, Argus, 19-4-1855.)

THIRD INSOLVENCY MEETING, DECEMBER 1856.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/7142143

HIGHLAND GATHERING, JANUARY 1857.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201377881

LADY OF THE LAKE HOTEL, on the Deep Creek-road.—Alfred Bliss and Co. are instructed by tho owner to DISPOSE OF the LADY OF THE LAKE HOTEL, by Private Contract. For further particulars apply at their offices, 60 Chancery -lane.(P.8, The Argus, 3-7-1857.)

Richard Beaman obviously gained ownership of his 33 acre farm, Broombank, which John Cock leased from him from 1867. Later John Cock was assessed on 37 acres which obviously included the FOUR ACRE BLOCK* ON WHICH THE LADY OF THE LAKE HOTEL HAD STOOD (*as mentioned in the almost identical advertisement:P.8, Argus, 14-8-1857.)

The Highland gathering had probably been the last big fling for the historic landmark which David William O'Nial had operated by 1849. Beaman had probably lost his licence and J.F.L.Foster, who'd changed his name to Fitzgerald to inherit the Fitzgerald estate, was hardly likely to return to Australia to run it so it probably became a squat for vagrants or travellers until its sad end in 1861.