Annals of Strathmore and Surrounding Areas

By Ray Gibb.

1839		J.P. Fawkner receives the grant for "Belle Vue Park"'. The timber house which he built was extended into the two storey brick house at the top of Oak Park Court by J. English, who bought the farm after the death of Fawkner's widow in 1879. (Source = BAFH)
1840		Fawkner puts lots at Pascoeville, just north of the creek, on sale, and Edward Butler buys 1 1/2 acres on which he soon builds the "Young Queen Inn". Soon after, John Watson bought the inn, which he sold to William Smith in December, 1842, for 1700 pounds. Smith persevered with the hotel when Sydney-bound traffic started using the direct route (on which a hotel of the same name operated from 1848) and it finally closed in 1871. (Sources = BAFH, BTG).
1841		Dr. Farquhar McCrae, who received the grant for `Moreland', buys `La Rose', between Reynards Rd and Bell Street, and starts the bluestone house which was mainly built from 1845 by the Robertsons, and still stands proudly in Le Cateau Street as one of the state's oldest homes. (BTC)
1842		Due to a failed squatting venture on Moonjettee near Mt. Macedon, Fawkner sells Merai Farm to H. G. Ashurst. John Kernan started his family's long occupancy of this farm in 1856. (BAFH).
1843		G. F. B. St. John receives the grant for section 23 Doutta Galla. (Strathmore North).
1845		E.J. Brewster receives the grant for section 15 Doutta Galla. (Strathmore east of Carnarvon Road.) Thomas Napier buys 100 acres from him and established "Rose Mount", as "Rosebank" was called in 1847.
1846		Phillip Holland buys 236 acres adjoining Napier's land from Brewster. (BAFH)
1847		William Smith, licensee of the "Young Queen Inn", is charged with the manslaughter of his servant, Joseph Plant, but is acquitted. (BTC)
1849		James Watson starts a woolstore on the site of the "Lincolnshire Arms Hotel" (RC)
1850		School 483 opens on 29 July in the triangle formed by Lyttle Ave. and Five Mile and Moonee Ponds Creeks. It was closed but re-opened in 1858 and was transferred to Fletcher Street in 1860. The Raleigh St. building was opened in 1875. (VR, EH, SM)
		About this time, Fawkner's stables, now converted into a house in Oak Park Crt., were built. (BHK)
1852		Tulip Wright, a native of Lincolnshire. builds the "Lincolnshire Arms Hotel", from which the name of Lincoln Road was derived. (BB)
		On 11 March, Thomas Napier and J.P. Fawkner address the 100 pupils of school 483 at a school festival. (RC)
		On 22 December, the sites of Essendon and Hawstead are announced. (RC)
1853		A licence is issued for the "Essendon Hotel", which was run by the Wood family for many decades from 1861, and the great John Coleman, during his time at Essendon. There is a photo of the early hotel in "The Stopover that Stayed". (RC,PAGE 187 OF DHOTAMA.) The Hotel has since been called "De Marco's" and "The Grand").
		John Murray Peck, Cobb, Swanton and Lamber come to Australia and establish Cobb and Co.  Cobb ran the office while Peck was the megaphone-voiced man of daring who could drive a 24 horse team.
1854		School 224, established by the Presbyterian church at the beginning of the year, was to close after aid ceased in 1862. (RC)
		In June, land at Essendon and Hawstead was thrown open for sale. (RC)
		In July, John Haslett establishes the "National Hotel" on his grant at Hawstead which is now bisected by Melfort Ave. The hotel, renamed the "Melfort Inn" by Robert Robinson in 1886, closed on 31-12-1919. (CCHR, EH)
		Lewis, the younger brother of J.W.T. Clarke buys "Roseneath" on lots 12 and 11 Hawstead, which were granted to Michael; Skehan. (DHOTAMA Page C 96, EH) Many claim that W.P. Greene of Woodlands was responsible for the naming of Woodland St., but as he died several years before Hawstead was declared, it is more likely that the street was named after the huge Clarke station of that name in the Wimmera.
1855		On 1 November, Catholic school 269 opens on the north corner of Glass St. (now Napier Cres.) and Pascoe Vale Rd. (which was known as Ashurst and Firebrace Streets at that time). It closed on 31-11-1874, and the iron schoolhouse, which had also served for worship, was moved to form the first St. Monica's. (VR, St Monica's History, EH)
		J.P. Fawkner moves to Smith St., Collingwood, but still stays on "Belle Vue Park" most weekends. (BAFH)
1857		The Pascoe Vale bridge is built at a cost of 1750 pounds. It was replaced with a stone bridge in 1875. (BAFH)
		The Broadmeadows Roads District is formed near the end of the year. It included the Strathmore area (until 1979).
1860		In August, the Burke and Wills expedition sets out along Bulla Rd, passing Woodland St. in the morning of the second day. They had to camp near Queens Park the first night, as too many speeches delayed their departure. Their second camp was on the Inverness Hotel site at the north end of the N-S runway at Tullamarine Airport. (BB, TSTTO, "DIG", "Cooper's Creek")
1861		The borough of Essendon and Flemington is proclaimed on 23 December. It was formed at the first meeting on 25-1-1862. (RC)
1862		Belle Vue Park, Merai Farm and three farms south of Rhodes Pde. are transferred from Pentridge (Coburg) to Broadmeadows Road District. (BTC)
1863		Essendon- Flemington Borough pays 100 pounds as half-share for the La Rose Bridge (29,A/1) on 2 February. (SM)
		In March, the Napier St. bridge over Five Mile Creek (28,H/1) is washed away. The tender for a new bridge is accepted a year later. (SM)
1869		Death of J.P. Fawkner on 4 September. His childless widow, Eliza (nee Cobb) retains Belle Vue Park. (BAFH)
1871		John Morgan is running the "Cross Keys Hotel". (CCHR)
1873		The Victoria Hotel, still standing on the south corner of Mt. Alexander Rd and Leake St., is opened. (RC)
1874		William Jones, who went directly to Essendon on his arrival from Gloucestershire in October, 1860, buys William Smith's 20 acres North of the bridge including the closed "Young Queen Inn" from Mr. Herron after having rented land from Fawkner for five years. (BAFH, VIM).
		John William Turner "Big" Clarke dies at Roseneath residence of his nephew, James Hearn. (DHOTAMA Page C96, MOAS).
1876		Fred Morgan, who married Helen Maria Knight, buys his 43 acre farm, "The Pines". (VIM)
1877		The Pascoe Vale Toll Gate opens on 12 April. (RC) This could have been at the railway gates or the bridge.
1878		Death of John Thomas Smith, an original Essendon -Flemington Councillor, seven times Mayor of Melbourne, M.L.C., M.L.A and original owner of land near Cranwell Ave., and between North Park mansion and Glenbervie Station. (SM, EH, DGPM, etc)
1879		Upon the death of Fawkner's widow, Joseph English, a Creswick mine owner, buys Belle Vue Park and incorporates Fawkner's single storey timber homestead into the double story house, which still stands at the end of Oak Park Crt. He leased the farm to his brother-in-law, Fred Morgan and Fred's mother-in-law, Ellen Knight. (BAFH, BHK) (Harry and Dorothy Sampford, who owned the house in 1989, spent much money employing architectural historians to confirm their suspicion that Fawkner's historical house was retained as part of the 1879 version, and unless the Community News advertisement of 19-11-1991 was false advertising, they were correct.) (DHOTASMA page B 193)
1880		On 25 April, the iron schoolhouse (school 269) which had been moved from the corner of Napier Cres. and Pascoe Vale Rd where it had served for education and worship, was blessed on its new site (St. Monica's) (RC etc.)
1881		Death of Thomas Napier of "Rosebank" on 7 February.
1882		William Lynch buys 51 acres from Samuel Jackson for 1500 pounds. This seems to have been a long narrow strip which had Peck Ave as its northern boundary. (BAFH)
		After a scarlet fever and typhoid scare, Dr. Thompson is appointed Health Officer for Broadmeadows Shire (BAFH)
		J.M. Peck builds "Lebanon" which stills stands in Wendora St. (ECS, MOAS)
1885		Pascoe Vale Station opens and nine trains run to Broadmeadows daily. A bridge linking Gaffney St to Pascoe Vale Rd is proposed but never eventuates. (BAFH)
1886		Probably because of the improved rail service, there is a rash of land acquisition and subdivision. William McCulloch sells Glenroy Farm (between Hilton St. and Rhodes Pde.) after 12 years of breeding his prize shorthorns there, and within two years, the Wiseman brothers and others are promoting it as the Toorak of the North. A.W. Craven, a civil engineer who became a M.L.A. in 1889, declares the Byron Vale Estate, which James McCord had bought from Brewster four decades earlier. It contained Kilburn St, (named after the owners of the neighbouring property) in which `Hiawatha' was built in 1891. Anna Maria Kilburn sells her adjacent land in two lots in March; this was probably the Pascoe Vale Estate of 1920, which had frontages to Lind, Vernon, Hood and Lincoln Sts. In March, the Melfort Sheffield (cycling?) Handicap is conducted on the Melfort track at Essendon (SM) No doubt the track was near the 3-5 acre block bisected now by Melfort Ave, where stood the National Hotel, which had just been renamed as the `Melfort Inn' by Robert Robinson. How ironic that the board track was built a stone's throw north later on.
1887		Alexander McCracken, who had married J.M. Peck's daughter, Mary, in 1884, and was to be admitted as a junior partner in McCracken's Brewery in June 1888, buys the North Park land from James Ewart for 5000 pounds. (RC, TGTB, BAFH)
		Oakden, Addison ∓ Kemp was commissioned to design North Park in 1888, and D. Sinclair's tender of 10,700 pounds to construct the house, was accepted. Red Northcote bricks, sandstone from Waurn Ponds, basalt from Malmsbury and roofing from Marseilles, France, were used.
1891		The Victorian Scottish Home Rule Association was formed by Theodore Napier on 18 September (RC)
		In the same month, Townshend Sommerville died at the age of 80. His home, Summerhill, was probably on the land granted to R. Chance, and bounded by Bulla Road, Woodland Street, Carnarvon Road and (roughly) Cranwell Ave. (RC, DGPM, Broadmeadows Rates 1863 and 1880, Essendon P.O. Directories 1873 and 1880.)
1892		The Rowan car (a train) starts operating between Essendon and Broadmeadows on 18 August, and is of great benefit to Pascoe Vale residents. (RC)
1893		There are numerous complaints about teamsters camping in the middle of Mt. Alexander Road at night, such as the one who camped at the Glass St intersection. (RC)
1896		Dr. Thompson is asked to investigate the dumping of typhoid-infected sewage from Melbourne Hospital on the west side of Bulla Rd (RC) (Probably on St. Johns)
1897		North Park and Rosebank are two of the local cricket clubs. (RC)
1902		Mrs. G.P. Barber (nee Eleanor Napier) dies in February. Another longtime resident, John West, dies in September. John set up his business near the future Essendon Hotel in 1853, when there were only four houses in the locality, and the road from Melbourne was nearly virgin forest*. (RC, VIM) *Much like Napier Park.
1903		J.M. Peck dies on 19 November and is buried in the Will Will Rook Cemetery in Camp Rd. (RC, Gravestone)
1905		The "Lincolnshire Arms Hotel", built by Tulip Wright in 1852, is burnt out. (SM, BB, TSTS)
1906		Mary Wood of the Essendon Hotel, near Woodlands Park, dies on 26 April. (RC)
1907		Mr. J.F. Morgan of the Cross Keys, dies. His late mother had owned the hotel for more than 50 years, and he was born in it. (RC)
		In June, the 11 acre water reserve, a watering place for travelling stock unused for 35 years and now dried up, is requested for a park by council (RC) i.e. Woodlands Park.
1909		On 17 November, the "Lincolnshire Arms Hotel" recently rebuilt in the Queen Anne style, is placed on sale.
1910		Land is bought for Essendon High School, which was a Higher Elementary School at first, and was taken over in 1919 to cope with the catastrophic effects of the Spanish Flu brought back by servicemen at the end of W.W.1. (RC)
1911		The 42 lot Woodlands Estate (Glass, Scholfield, Fuller and Warner Sts) is placed on sale on 9 February. (RC)
1914		G.P. Barber dies at "Rosebank". (RC)
1915		John Keam establishes his Real Estate business at No. 1 Keilor Rd. Alexander McCracken, the first Secretary of Essendon Football Club, at the age of 17, and the inaugural President of the V.F.L., from 1897 until his death, passes away at "North Park" on 25 August. (TGTB, 100 Years of Aust. Football)
1916		Lots, of 50 x 211 feet on Pascoe Cresent, in the Railway Station Estate, sell quickly. (RC)
1917		North Essendon Progress Association is formed at a meeting in the Essendon Methodist Sunday School on 29 November. (RC)
1918		William F Salmon of Roseneath presents Salmon Reserve, along Five Mile Creek, to Council on 7 November. (RC)
1919		On 28 August, Theodore Napier presents Napier Park to Essendon Council after Broadmeadows Shire had declined his offer. The title handover took place on 20 August, 1920. (RC, BAFH)
		Melfort Hotel closes at year's end. (CCHR)
1920		On 17 April North Park Estate (24 shop sites and 80 villa lots in Woodland St., Heseldene St. and Amelia Ave.) is placed on sale.
		On 19 November Dr. N.C. Barber, son of G.P. and Eleanor, puts the "Rosebank" house and 3 acres on sale and 8 days later the 80 lot Rosebank estate, comprising Woodland St., Rosebank Ave., Upland Rd., The Crossway and North Ave. is offered for sale. (RC)
1921		On 18 May, the Minister approves the purchase of 71 Acres for St John Field. It opens on 11 August. (RC)
		In July, the Victoria Hotel's licence is not renewed. (RC) Essendon Council agrees to pay half of the 1400 pounds cost of the new "La Rose" bridge.
1922		New Roman Catholic Parish established at North Essendon. (Probably St Theresa's)
		New Railway Station at the bottom of Glass St. opens. was to be called Napier but as there was already three Victorian places called Napier the Station was named Glenbervie (Name of T. Napier's home in Scotland.)   (RC)
1923		St. John's Field officially named Essendon Aerodrome. (RC)
		Highland Estate of 150 blocks between Carnarvon Rd. and Napier St. offered for sale.
		A 10 acre block of land in the Glenview Estate, west of North Park, purchased as proposed site for St. Thomas' Grammar School.
		Death of W.F. Salmon in September. North Park Mansion and Rosebank purchased by the Trustees of the Irish Mission to China, for the purpose of a missionary training college and novitiate respectively.
1924		The new St. Thomas' Grammar School was to be built on land purchased in North Essendon in 1923.
		Land advertised in the Lebanon estate, Pascoe Vale, near the Pascoe Vale Station.
		Death of Theodore Napier at Madgala in September.
		The 44 Lot Roseneath Estate with frontages to Woodland and Napier Sts. and Salmon Ave. offered for sale. by D. Graham. Eight roomed brick homestead also offered for sale.
1928		The Albion Jacana Goods Train Line opens. (BAFH)
1933		Craigeburn Coursing Club opens the Napier Park Greyhound racing track. 3500 people attend the first meeting. (BAFH P.165)
1938		The North Essendon Progress Association protests about the noise from Essendon Aerodrome (BAFH P.154)
		Councillor A.W. Millar unseated by North Essendon and South Broadmeadows Progress Association candidate.

Sources.

BAFH = Broadmeadows: A Forgotten History. Andrew Lemon
SM = The Annals of Essendon ∓ District to 1924. Sam Merrifield
RC = The Annals of Essendon, Vol .1. R.W. Chalmers
BTC = Between Two Creeks. Richard Broome
VR = Vision and Realisation. G. Blake
EH = Map of Essendon and Hawstead Circa 1860
BB = Bulla Bulla. I.W. Symonds
DHOTAMA = Dictionary History of Tullamarine and Miles Around. R. Gibb
CCHR = Cole Collection of Hotel Records. (Latrobe Library)
BHK = Broadmeadows History Kit. Sue O’Callaghan (at Gladstone Park Sec. Coll.)
TSTTO = The Shire that took off. G. Aldous (unpublished. Bulla file at Sam Merrifield)
VIM = Victoria and its Metropolis. A. Sutherland
DGPM = Doutta Galla Parish Map
ECS = Essendon Conservation Study. G. Butler
MOAS = Memoirs of a Stockman. H.H. Peck
TGTB = The Gold The Blue. A.D. Pyke (History of Lowther Hall)