Tom & Eliza Petty of Doncaster

"Bingley" - Tom Petty (Jnr)'s House - 720 Doncaster Road

Tom Petty home "Bingley" Cnr Whitten's Lane and Main Road, Doncaster (demolished ? now 720 Doncaster Road ??? Built 1913. Later demolished to make way for the 'Jolly Roger' Supermarket.  Later used as a video shop.  Double storey house with gable roof and a verandah along part of the front of the ground floor and a balcony above. Picket fence in front and a low hedge behind the fence and bordering the driveway on the west side of the house. Palm tree in the front garden. The property was left to Tom Petty's son, Henry. DTHS-DP0223) 


Tom Petty was a man who inspired confidence. He did things with determination and enthusiasm. On Monday mornings, he would load a cart with-men and tools ready to set out for a week's work camping in the bush. As they drove along Doncaster Road, there was only one thought in Tom Petty's head, to get there and start work. He drove the horses with determination, oblivious of the ruts and potholes in the road. One morning after several miles fast driving bouncing over the rough road, he looked back and found the cart empty. Men and tools had all been bounced off along the bumpy way.

To clear the land, Petty hired-men paying them £2/1O/- an acre and supplied them with a jack to push over the trees. When the land was ready, rows of pine trees were planted as wind breaks between sections of orchard. These rows of pines in the open land gave the appearance of a park. The men began to call the area "The Park” and so the name "Park Orchards" arose.

Work had started in 1902 and four years later new fruit trees covered the whole area. Sections were let out on a share farming basis.

Studio portrait of Tom Petty (Jnr).  In 1853, Tom's father, Thomas Petty purchased land in Doncaster Road, Doncaster, Victoria, on the west side of Pettys Lane.  In 1856, Tom came to Doncaster with his mother Jane Petty.  Tom Petty Jnr. owned and established over 30 orchards in the district, making him the most active fruit grower in Doncaster.  DTHS-DP0310


The first to take a section was Harry Brown who had worked for Tom Petty at Doncaster living in the quarters alongside "Bayview". A two room cottage was built for Harry Brown on the hill where the Chalet now stands.

To house the men who worked the orchards, Tom Petty bought four weatherboard houses in Richmond. These were moved out to "The Park" and re-erected alongside the road that ran through the orchards. (see: Tom Petty (Jnr)’s houses at “The Park")

Irvine Green A.I.A.P. writing in 1973 11 DTHS Newsletter

Tom & Eliza Petty of Doncaster

Doncaster & Templestowe Orchardists

Tom Petty was the most enthusiastic, dynamic and productive "Fruit Grower" in the Doncaster Templestowe area. Throughout his life he constantly opened up new land or bought existing orchards and he pioneered equipment and methods to help orchardists.
Tom Petty was born in 1845 at Yorkshire where his father Thomas and his uncle were part owners of a cotton mill in the Bradford area. During the 1850s, an industrial slump left them with little work and as Thomas’s eyesight was failing the doctor ordered a sea voyage. Thomas left his wife and children in England and sailed for Australia to find land and make a home for his family in Victoria.
His father, Thomas, came to Doncaster and purchased 47 acres of bush land on Koonung creek. Five years later he wrote to his wife asking her to come out and bring the family he had established this farm and built a two storey house on his land. The family left Liverpool on the ship Red Jacket on 20 July 1858 and arrived in Melbourne on 13 October. With Jane were her children, Tom, his sister Elizabeth and brothers George and John. An elder half brother, Henry, had arrived the year before. Henry’s sister Mary stayed in England.
Tom grew up on his father’s farm learning about the land and gaining the skills of growing fruit in this country with such different conditions. He also developed an enthusiasm for owning land. In 1868, he purchased a selection of 80 acres of bush land in Porter Street Templestowe. The first of Tom Petty’s many land purchases. Five years later, he owned land in Doncaster Road and had built a house opposite the present Eastern Golf Links.
In 1973, Tom Petty married Eliza, the daughter of John and Agnys Clay. The Clays where among the first families to buy land in Doncaster. Their orchard was in Doncaster Road. Eliza was born at picturesque Hall Farm in Devonshire in 1850. Her family lived at Fitzroy when they first came to Melbourne, and while there, Eliza attended Collingwood Ladies College. After leaving school, Agnes sent Eliza to learn dressmaking at Prahran. She learnt to make her own dresses but probably the last dress she had time to make for many years was her wedding dress, being married to the highly active Tom Petty she led an extremely busy life.
Tom developed life as a successful fruit grower, soon becoming prosperous and invested in land. In 1883, the "Leader", a weekly newspaper, organised a competition for the best fruit garden in the Melbourne district and offered a silver cup for the winner. In the following years, four Doncaster Fruit Growers won the cup among them Tom Petty. In the 1870s, when some ships were equipped with ice making machinery, Tom with Richard Serpell and Fred Thiele sent a trial consignment of pears to England. In the 1890s, refrigeration machinery was being installed in ships. Tom experimented with keeping cherries in a cool store. He found that they would keep long enough to travel to England. Regular exports of fruit then began. Tom had become a respected member of the community who elected him to the Shire of Bulleen in 1277. The next year, the councillors made him Shire President. He remained in council for the next twelve years.

"Bay View" Tom and Eliza's Home in Doncaster opposite the school

At the top of the hill in Doncaster Road, Alfred Hummel, who led the life of a wealthy gentleman, had built a large attractive house called “Bay View” but in the 1880s Hummel left the district. Tom and Eliza grasped the opportunity to move into "Bay View", a home more in keeping with their increased social position. It also gave more room for their growing family. To Eliza, it was like coming home, she now lived alongside her family, the Clays.
Tom was now purchasing land and employing workers to clear and plant the land, then he let the workers run the land on a share farming agreement. Often these would be relatives, for Tom was always ready to share his success with his family. Tom was enjoying the heady days of the "Land Boom" so he expanded his holdings with the optimistic expectation that the boom would go on forever. In 1892, the land boom ended. Then came the disastrous depression. Some banks closed their doors, mortgages were foreclosed and people lost their life savings. Tom Petty faced ruin. Tom said that he would never recover and with the worry his hair turned white overnight.
He did recover, for such a vital man could not be kept down and, a few years, later he was busy with new plans. At harvest time, he sent fruit to a cool store in Fitzroy and to Sennitts at South Melbourne. He knew that a local cool store, run at the right temperature for fruit, would be a great asset the local orchardists. Tom persuaded the Fruitgrowers Association to petition the Premier, Thomas Bent, to build a cool store in Doncaster. In 1904, the Government Cool Store was at last opened. It was in Doncaster Road near the Doncaster Hotel. Later the Government Cool Store was taken over by the growers as a cooperative in which Tom’s second son, Edwin, took an active part as a director. The Fruit Growers Association was one of Tom Petty’s great interests. At one fruit pruning day he demonstrated his method of pruning. He could prune with either hand and usually held a pair of secateurs in each hand ready to use whichever was most convenient. He said that, when pruning, there should be one stick in the secateurs and two in the air.
In 1902, Tom Pettty commenced his largest project. He obtained a loan of £8,000 from the bank, then, he and his wife Eliza, purchased 559 acres of land in the area of South Warrandyte known as "The Park". It was a beautiful place with grassy groves of scrub and trees. Tom set about having the land cleared. He hired men and supplied them with the necessary tools, saws, picks, mattocks and jacks, and paid them £2-10-0 an acre to clear the scrub and trees ready to plant fruit trees.
Tom Petty inspired confidence. He worked with enthusiasm and determination. On Monday morning he would load up a cart with tools, collect his men and set out for a weeks work camping at the Park. He was a goer. If he was doing any job, he went all out to get it done. It was said that, on one Monday morning, Tom was so absorbed in getting to the park that he drove the cart fast bouncing over ruts and potholes. He heard a yell and turned round to see that all the tools and men had been bounced off the cart along the road.
After four years work, the men had cleared the ground and planted the trees on the hillsides of the Park. They had prepared eighty neat orchard blocks, and had scooped out ten dams. Between the blocks rows of pine trees were beginning to grow to provide the fruit with shelter from the hot summer winds. The orchards now had to be looked after. Tom offered the blocks to the workers to run on share farming basis. Tom then purchased four timber houses from North Melbourne and moved them out to the Park to provide the men with homes. Tom’s son Frank occupied one of these for a few years. The area now became known as "Park Orchards". Tom Petty had not only made a large orchard, he had created a new suburb. When Tom later retired he sold Park Orchards estate to William Sell in partnership with Eva and Minnie Gibb.
One of the most onerous tasks on an orchard was spraying with a hand operated spray pump. Tom thought that a pump could be worked by a motor, so he asked his nephew Jack Russell if he could construct a motor driven spray pump. At a meeting of the Fruit Growers Association, he told the story of spraying fruit trees for orchard pests leading up to the development of the Russell Spray pump.
"My first experience was with a syringe on some peach trees. I found it so troublesome however, that I suggested to my wife that she do it while I cut the wood, but the aphis was killed and the fruit brought a good price”. He talked about other pumps that were unsatisfactory until they found one that worked well but was pumped by hand. "The man holding the rod keeps looking up saying. 'A little more spray.' And the man at the pump, though his muscles are aching, has to keep the handle going up and down, up and down, until the blessed night comes. So I spoke to an engineer, told him what was wanted and he said he could make it."
John Russell built this machine. It was the first satisfactory power sprayer in Australia. He called it the "Bave U" after the name of Tom Petty's home. For the next forty years, fruitgrowers throughout the country used Russell’s spray pumps.
In Templestowe, Tom had at times purchased other blocks of land but the original selection on the corner of Smiths Road, he had cleared and planted. In the the 1890s, he subdivided this 80 acres into four twenty acre blocks and sold these to his sons Henry, Edwin and Bert. The fourth block went to James Mangan. The orchard on the river was purchased by T.H. Petty in 1910. This was later added to and is now the Metropolitan Park "Petty’s Orchard".
Tom and Eliza’s large family had grown up and most of the children had left home. "Bay View" was larger than they needed. When Fred was to be married, Tom sold him "Bay View" and bought a house and orchard in Woodhouse Grove, Box Hill. Tom was a born leader and an active member of the fruitgrowers assocations. He was a good speaker with a keen sense of humour and with Eliza he often traveled to functions in Victoria and other states.
By now, Tom was well over sixty and was beginning to feel the need for rest after his active life. In 1913, Tom Petty retired, then he and Eliza left for a trip to England. Friends organised a farewell function at the Athenaeum Hall. The farewell committee took up a collection and presented Tom with a travelling bag, suitably inscribed and Eliza with a handsome handbag and a rug each. In his farewell speech, the chairman spoke of their visit to the "Old Country" but Tom spoke of leaving for "Home". Both had been born in England but people, even those born in Australia, referred to England as "Home". Later when the committee added up the farewell accounts, they discovered there was some money over. They offered it to Tom to buy another present but he said he had been given enough and suggested that the money be spent on a clock for the Athenaeum Hall. This clock now hangs in the schoolroom of Schramm's Cottage.
In England, Tom and Eliza visited Doncaster in Yorkshire where they presented a flag from Doncaster School in Victoria, to Doncaster School in Yorkshire. They visited Bingley where Tom’s mother Jane was born and also Devonshire to see Hall Farm at Petrockstowe, where Eliza was born. Before leaving, Tom had planned a house to be built in Doncaster Road close to the store. It was to be ready for their return. They named the house "Bingley" and here Tom Petty spent the last years of his life. While in England, Tom enquired into methods of fruit handling, and was able, on his return, to give useful information to his fellow growers.
Tom Petty died in 1923. Eliza received letters of consolation and appreciation for the services that Tom had given to the community, from the many organisations where he was highly esteemed. Tom Petty had packed many activities into his active life. In his time, Tom Petty had purchased or planted twenty-one different orchards, always leaving the area better than he found it.

Source: Irvine Green assisted by Jean Beavis writing in 1997 06 DTHS Newsletter

Tom Petty

The Petty family were among the first settlers in Doncaster. Tom arrived in 1856. His father had come earlier to set himself up as a farmer and Tom quickly established himself as a most successful orchardist being able, it is said, to prune nine trees with two hands, one branch with his left hand and the other with his right. The depression of 1890's was a very bad time for people on the land, but Tom Petty survived and extended his land holdings to 300 acres in South Warrandyte. Such was his keenness that in his enthusiasm to begin work while driving quickly along Doncaster Road in a cart loaded with men and tools, he drove several miles before noticing that he had lost his load on the bumpy pot holed track! Before he died, Tom Petty was the owner of more than twenty properties in Doncaster ad Templestowe.
Truly a wonderful pioneer of our district!

Source: 1999 03 DTHS Newsletter


Tom and Eliza Petty in garden.  Address??   Tom died in January 1923.  (Note: not sure of the reference to “_Beavis” in the file name as Eliza’s maiden name was “Clay”.  DTHS NF01P030-158 Tom and Elizabeth Petty_Beavis _Ref13-56.  


Thomas & Eliza Petty with family. 1887.  Left-Right: Ethel May Petty, Albert Thompson Petty, Thomas Petty (holding Violet Eliza Petty), Rosamund Agnes Abigail Petty, Eliza Petty (nee Clay) (holding Victoria Lilian Petty b.4 July 1887), Thomas Henry Petty, Robert Edwin Petty.  Front: Francis Roland Petty, Frederick John Petty. Sources: Lynton Clay, Nov2023 and Ref: DTHS- NF01P030-157 Tom Petty Family _Ref13-55


The Death of Mr Tom Petty

Mr Tom Petty died on 22 January 1923 at the age of 77 years. His death and life achievements were  reported in the “The Reporter (Box Hill)’ newspaper of 2 February 1923 as follows [1]:
DONCASTER'S FINE OLD MAN. LATE MR. T. PETTY. PROMOTER OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY.
The late Mr. Thomas Petty, J.P., was the father of the fruit industry in the Doncaster district. When others said there was too much fruit grown, he planted and urged others to plant, and his confidence and energy proved a great factor in making Doncaster one of the leading fruit-growing centres of Australia. He was a life-long member of the local Fruitgrowers' Association, and was generally a delegate to the annual Victorian Conference, where his wise counsel and sound judgment was always recognised. Mr. Petty was one of the first to suggest a cool store for Doncaster. He suggested a trial shipment of W.B.C. pears, and in many ways assisted the industry. 
Over 40 years ago he was elected a member of the Bulleen Shire Council for the Doncaster riding, filling the position of president on several occasions. He only had one election contest, and voluntarily retired from the position of councillor. He was one of the first trustees of the Doncaster Athenaeum, and held the position till his death. He was an active worker in helping to secure the telephone, electric light, and new water service. 
He always identified himself with the temperance movement. Coming from the Old Country as a Band of Hope boy, he stuck to his pledge consistently. He was the oldest member of the Doncaster I.O.R., being connected with the Order for 50 years, and in the early days of the local tent took a very active part, and was always ready to assist in the cause of total abstinence, especially among the young, and when the vote was taken recently on the no licence question, he was one of the local committees who worked so successfully in Doncaster (Doncaster securing the three-fifths majority in favor of no-licence). 
In church matters Mr. Petty took a very liberal view, though he was always a member of the Church of England, and was held in very high esteem, as was shown by the crowded congregation that met at a memorial service held on January 28th, when the Rev. H. H. Gardner referred fittingly to the life and death of the deceased. Mr. Petty took a deep interest in every effort made for the training of the young. On several occasions the superintendent of the Sunday School in connection with the Church of Christ, Doncaster, referred to Mr. Petty as being the one who suggested the starting of that school over 41 years ago, and he had always shown a lively interest in its work. 
Many of the residents think that no one man has ever exercised a greater influence for the prosperity of the district and its general advancement than Mr. Tom Petty, and his sudden removal is very keenly felt by all.   Source: 1923 'DONCASTER’S FINE OLD MAN.', The Reporter (Box Hill, Vic. : 1889 - 1925), 2 February, p. 5. , viewed 21 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257199272

The news of his passing and of his burial were reported in “The Argus” newspaper of 23 January 1923 as follows [2]:

PETTY.- On the 22nd January, at his residence Doncaster (suddenly), Tom, the dearly beloved Husband of Eliza Petty, age 77 years. Deeply regretted.
The Friends of the late Mr. Tom Petty are informed that his remains will be interred in the Boroondara Cemetery, Kew. The funeral will leave his residence, Main road, Doncaster, THIS DAY (Tuesday), 23rd January, 1923, at 3 p.m.   Source:  1923 'Family Notices', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), 23 January, p. 1. , viewed 21 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1870741 

Later, “The Reporter (Box Hill)’ newspaper of 27 April 1923 reported some details of his will and estate and property left to his wife and children as follows [3]:

PERSONAL. - Mr. Tom Petty, of Doncaster, fruit-grower, who died on January 22, left by will dated October 19, 1922, real estate of a gross value £5922, and personal property of a gross value of £9388, mainly to his widow and children. Source: 1923 'PERSONAL.', The Reporter (Box Hill, Vic. : 1889 - 1925), 27 April, p. 2. , viewed 21 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257200039 

Sources:
[1] 1923 'DONCASTER’S FINE OLD MAN.', The Reporter (Box Hill, Vic. : 1889 - 1925), 2 February, p. 5. , viewed 21 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257199272
[2] 1923 'Family Notices', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), 23 January, p. 1. , viewed 21 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1870741 
[3] 1923 'PERSONAL.', The Reporter (Box Hill, Vic. : 1889 - 1925), 27 April, p. 2. , viewed 21 Jul 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257200039 


For more on Tom Petty, see:







No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)