LINK WITH MR.GLADSTONE
Broadmeadows Farm Sale
Negotiations are almost complete for the sale of Gladstone Park, Broadmeadows. Gladstone Park is a farm of 777 acres, at present used for stock fattening. Subject to Treasury approval the price will be £2 5 an acre, making a total, of £19,425.
Special interest is attached to the sale because of its association with the famous British Prime Minister, (Mr. Gladstone) to whom the property is said to have been granted by Queen Victoria. Relatives of Mr. Gladstone once
resided in the nine-roomed brick homestead.
Gladstone Park adjoins Essendon aerodrome, and has a boundary of about two miles long Broadmeadows-road; running
right into Broadmeadows township. Moonee Ponds Creek forms the eastern boundary. During the war, it contained an emergency landing ground, which was used extensively for training purposes.
Agreement to the sale was received this week from the trustees of the Gladstone Estate in England. Attorneys for the trustees are the solicitors, Moule, Hamilton and Derham, Collins-street,city. Agents were A. E. Gibson and Co., Queen-street, city. The purchaser's name was not disclosed.
It is thought likely, because of the value of the land, much of it will eventually be subdivided.The homestead and about 100 acres may be retained as a stud farm. It is understood that the present tenant, Mr. J. E. Barrow, will remain in possession until the present lease expires in four years.(P.3, The Age, 21-9-1946.)

WHICH MR GLADSTONE?
From P. 87, BROADMEADOWS A FORGOTTEN HISTORY, Andrew Lemon.
(Gladstone Park) "had been owned by a Scot, Thomas Steuart Gladstone from 1869 until his death in 1883 and returned him an income of a few hundred pounds a year. Gladstone was a cousin of the British Prime Minister, W.E.Gladstone. He never came to Australia but had been an associate of the land's previous owner, Neil Black, and he came into possession of the land as the result of a business agreement. On Gladstone's death the property had passed to his three sons Robert, Samuel and John, all of Liverpool.

ADJOINED ESSENDON AERODROME?
See:TULLAMARINE PARISH MAP
N.B. If the link doesn't work, google TULLAMARINE, COUNTY OF BOURKE and click on the first result.

Gladstone Park was section 5. The Broadmeadows Rd (now Mickleham Rd) frontage of "Gladstone Park" was 8000 links (80 chains, a mile or 1600 metres.) The farms BETWEEN THIS FARM AND ESSENDON AERODROME were Viewpoint on crown allotments 1 and 2 of section 4, Camp Hill, (Gowanbrae from about 1940) on c/a's 3 and 4 of section 4, and Southwaite Gill on 22B and D Doutta Galla (today's Strathmore Heights.)

GLADSTONE PARK WAS ORIGINALLY NAMED STEWARTON.
The original name of section 5 (and another farm in the Western District) was probably derived from one of the four members of the syndicate that Niel Black represented in Australia (see bold type below.) Peter McCracken leased Stewarton from 1846 till 1855, when unable to get an answer from Niel Black about renewing his lease, he moved to his dairy in South Kensington until his Ardmillan" mansion in TODAY'S Moonee Ponds was completed in 1857.

A.D.Pyke, author of THE GOLD THE BLUE (a history of the Lowther Hall school in Leslie St, Essendon) stated that Peter McCracken's Stewarton was in Moonee Ponds, unaware that properties as far north as Dunhelen were given this location name. The original name was still used when John Cock first occupied the farm but its name was recorded as "Gladstone" in the second year of his lease. This would have been when ownership reverted from the insolvent G.W.Taylor to Gladstone's sons.

THE NINE ROOMED BRICK HOUSE THAT NO GLADSTONE EVER OCCUPIED.
The original homestead was a four roomed weatherboard house near Claredale Avenue. The nine roomed brick house, grain silos and stables were near the corner of Lyndhurst Avenue and North Circular Rd. The new homestead would have been built early in John Cock's tenure, no doubt financed by Taylor's forfeited deposit and part payments.

FROM MY JOURNAL "OWNERS AND OCCUPIERS OF "GLADSTONE PARK".
This journal was prompted by Bezza sending me the information in italics. Mr Fenwick was probably managing the farm for Helen Melville. Thomas Steuart Gladstone was cousin of the prime minister. Stewarton and a farm of the same name in the Western District were probably named after Gladstone's partner. Stewarton was renamed Gladstone in the second year of John Cock's lease.

The will of the late Mr Thomas Gladstone has been proved. The personalty in the estate amounts to ?25=,000.Kilmore Press 23 May 1889 p3. This is Thomas Steuart Gladstone. There was also a Sir Thomas Gladstone that died in 1889.

Fenwick seem to have Gladstone park in 1917 when it was sold.
Essendon Gazette 22 Feb 1917
Gladstone Park Sale. Campbell and Sons and McCulloch Hancock will sell, on Wednesday,. Inst., at 1 p.m., at Gladstone Park, Broadmeadows. under instructions from A. G. and C E. Melville. the whole of pedigreed and farm mares, dairy breeding sows, sheep, machinery, farm implements and sundries. Particularly given in our advertising columns, and other details may be had from the auctioneers or from Mr. A. Fenwick. Gladstone Park, Broadmeadows.

Essendon Gazette 14 Sep 1916 p2
Clearing Sale at Broadmeadows. .Last Tuesday week, 5th September, a very successful clearing sale was held at Gladstone Park, Broadmeadows, by McPhail, Anderson and Co., in conjunction with McCulloch and Hancock. The proprietors having decided to relinquish dairying and to go in solely for sheep and cropping, instructed the above agents to hold a clearing sale of all the dairy stock, plant, etc. A large number of buyers attended and a good sale resulted. Cows. in milk some time, made to ?11 10s; springers, to ?14; 21-year-old heifers, in lines, ?6 12s 6d;: 18 months to 2-year-olds, ?4 12s Gd; 9 to 12 months olds, ?3 2s 6d; bull,.to ?10 2s 6d. The plant. etc.. also sold at good values.


Essendon Gazette 8 August 1918 p3
MR. A. E. HOADLEY Has secured the Imported Welsh Cob, GWALIA CAESAR Who will stand the Season at GLADSTONE PARK, BROADMEADOWS. Terms on Application.


Section 5 in the parish of Tullamarine fronted the east side of today's Mickleham Rd from the Lackenheath Drive corner to Forman St where it adjoined Broadmeadows Township.The first bridge in the township joined the two parts of Ardlie St.

Today's suburb of Gladstone Park is separated from the rest of SECTION 5'S 777 acres (subdivided as the Gladstone Gardens Estate) by the freeway. It also includes most of "Viewpoint" which ran south to the junction. Marigold Crescent in Gowanbrae is also part of Viewpoint. About half of Camp Hill/ Gowanbrae is in Gladstone Park while the portion south east of the Ring Road carries the farm's second name.

GLADSTONE PARK.
Page G.30, DICTIONARY HISTORY OF TULLAMARINE AND MILES AROUND.
George Russell of Golf Hill in the Western District who bought Section 5 Tullamarine is shown on the Parish map as the grantee. He bought it for Niel Black of Mt Noorat near Colac who arrived in 1839 as the representative of Niel Black & Co. The partners in this firm were A.Stewart,Thomas Steuart Gladstone, Alex Struthers Finlay and Niel Black. Section 5, Tullamarine was probably intended as a holding paddock or depot to rest sheep hoofing it to market in Melbourne and was owned by Neil Black until his death in 1880 and in 1881-2 by his estate.

In 1882-3 Gladstone became the owner and from 1888-1892, land speculator, G.W.Taylor, was recorded in rate books as the owner;he'd anticipated a killing because of the proposed railway to Bulla with a possible branch to Broadmeadows Township. Taylor fled the country leaving massive debts and the Gladstones regained title as well as pocketing the deposit and part payments.Andrew Lemon said the Gladstones owned the 777 acre farm "until the 1920's" but the rate collectors thought otherwise;the next owner was Frederick Newman Levin, from 1949 till 1952 when he sold to Stanley Korman.

Lessees were Peter McCracken 1846-1855 (McCracken Papers), J.Maconochie , 1863-4, Edmund Dunn of "Viewpoint",the next property south 1865-1873, John Taylor 1873-5, John Kerr of Kerrsland 1875-1892 (Kerr and sons 1881-2), John Cock my great grandfather 1892-1912, HELEN MELVILLE 1912-1917, A.E.Hoadley 1917-1920, L.Roxburgh* 1920-1930, Jim Barrow 1930-1949. Owner/Occupiers from then were Levin 1949-52, Stanley Korman 1952-1964, Costain Development Pty. Ltd (Broadmeadows: A Forgotten History.) The last occupant of the second Gladstone Park Homestead (site known) was Ian Farrugia who was also the last occupant of the remaining house on THE LAST OF THE BROADY FARMS (Camp Hill/ Gowanbrae), the second farm south.

*Origin of the name of the suburb, Roxburgh Park.

The myth of the prime minister being the owner of Gladstone Park seems to have arisen before the death of Niel Black in 1880 as this quote from Niel's obituary illustrates.

"We extract the following memoir from
'Victorian Men of the Time':--"The Hon. Neil Black,
M.L.C., was born in the year 1804, at Cowal, in
Argyleshire, and is the son of Mr Archibald Black,
an extentive sheep farmer. Up to the age of thirty-three
Mr. Neil Black lived with his elder brother
Walter, and acquired a thorough knowledge of the
breeding and management of stock. He then
determined to visit Australia, and on hearing that he
was about to emigrate, several gentlemen were
desirous that Mr Neil Black should take out money
to invest for them, and an agreement was drawn up
between himself, Mr. Finlay (of Toward Castle,
Argyleshire), Mr. William Ewart Gladstone (since
premier of England), and Mr Stewart (of Glenormiston),
each of whom entered into a partnership for
five years, on equal shares, and entrusted Mr. Black
with the management of the joint funds, some
£8000, together with the selection of the territory,
the sole condition being that he should pay cash for
everything he bought."

As the source* quoted was not published until 1882, it is possible that the reference to the prime minister was in a draft of the book and was corrected before publication. It can be assumed that Andrew Lemon based Thomas Steuart Gladstone's (and his sons') ownership of section 5 Tullamarine on documents; otherwise he's made another mistake (like the one about James Robertson of "Gowrie" at Campbellfield being a Keilor farmer)and the myth is true! (See POSTSCRIPT.)

*Men of the time in Australia : Victorian series / compiled by H. Morin ...
nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an2741548
Men of the time in Australia : Victorian series /​ compiled by H. Morin Humphreys. Also Titled. Spine title: Men of the time, Victoria, 1882. Other Authors. Humphreys, H. Morin. Edition. 2nd ed. Published. Melbourne [Vic.] : M'Carron, Bird, 1882. Physical Description. clxxxii, 274 p. ; 22 cm. Series. Australian men of the time.

POSTSCRIPT.
Andrew Lemon was correct about Thomas Steuart Gladstone being a member of the Niel Black syndicate and gaining sole ownership of section 5 Tullamarine in 1869. The syndicate was dissolved in 1868-9, not after Black's death in 1880 as I had thought. See:
AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY