Pound Bend Tunnel, Warrandyte

Pound bend tunnel

Pound bend Tunnel Location - Google maps

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Pound Bend Tunnel at Warrandyte was opened on July 23rd, 1870

1970 08 DTHS Newsletter

Pound Bend Tunnel

Templestowe Post Office

July 1, 1860, Templestowe Post Office commenced postal services to the residents of Templestowe.

From 1970 08 DTHS Newsletter

Carl Henry Finger Homestead (1870)

At the Victoria Street end of George Street there are two old brick houses, that for the past hundred years have been part of the Waldau landscape. In 1870 Carl Henry Finger built the eastern house from bricks that he baked on the site. (About twenty years later his son John Finger built the other house, the one that is now on part of the Rieschieck Reserve, See Heimet).

Finger Homestead Doncaster East VHD-B2791

Granny Smith Apples

Photo of Maria Ann Sherwood known as Granny Smith and husband Thomas from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_Smith

Granny Smith, the discoverer of Australia's most useful apple died in 1870. In the early 1860's, Mrs. Maria Ann Smith tipped out some rotten Tasmanian Apples on the bank o£ a creek at her home in Eastwood near Sydney. A tree that grew from a seed of these apples produced a fruit found to be good for both eating and cooking. Mrs. Smith cultivated a few trees and a relation, Edward Gollard, planted a small orchard with cuttings from these trees. The fruit made a name for itself and in 1895 the Government Experimental Station at Bathurst started to develop this new variety.

Granny Smith Apples were first grown in Doncaster in the early 1920's. One of the first growers was George Sell at East Doncaster, but the variety did not become well known till about 1940. The Granny Smith ripened at the end of the season and kept well in cold storage - qualities that made it one of the most profitable apples grown in the district.

The Society would be interested to know who was the first grower of Granny Smith Apples in Doncaster.

Irvine Green writing in 1970 08 DTHS Newsletter

See also: Granny Smith - Wikipedia

Pontville

Where Deep Creek flows into the Yarra, two homesteads, Pontville and Monkton (usual spelling Monckton), stood on adjoining hills.

One hundred and thirty years ago, Major Charles Newman had been offered a land grant for his services to the Crown. In search of land, he set out from Heidelberg, and went north of the Yarra, hacking his way through dense scrub. Across the river, fertile flats on the bank of a creek, and rich green hills attracted him. At that time the only river crossing was a ford alongside where the Banksia Street bridge now stands.

Photo taken in 2006 by the great grandson of Major Newman, Carl Bradley Newman WEBSTER. It was the home of Major Newman and his family, situated on a hill near the junction of Mullum Mullum Creek and the Yarra River at Templestowe, Victoria. It was the first permanent house in the district and now the oldest building in the Templestowe municipality. Charles Newman built the house based on the Indian bungalow style in the mid 1840's. The house originally consisted of three rooms with a surrounding verandah. In 1875 alterations were made and the house was not materially altered again until the 1950's. heritage listed. visitors are not allowed.  pontville_templestowe-03.jpg (900×675) (rootsweb.com) (download Mar2023)  See the location on our history map