In December 1836, less than 18 months after the arrival of John Batman at Port Phillip, Joseph Tise Gellibrand, a former Tasmanian Attorney General and one of the promoters of the Port Phillip Association, led a party to Geelong on a kind of goodwill mission to the aborigines, and on his return he made a wide sweep of Melbourne via the Salt Water River and is believed to have reached the present site of Diamond Creek; they then returned to Melbourne via the Yarra, crossing the Plenty at only a short distance from its junction with that river.
In March 1837, the Chief Port Phillip Surveyor, Robert Hoddle, made a trip up the Yarra in executing his survey of the County of Bourke, and though little can be said of the actual route he followed, it is notable that both the Parishes of Bulleen and Warrandyte appear in his survey map. About the same month, Jack Gardiner, who had a station on the banks of Gardiner's Creek, followed some straying stock up the Yarra and came across the rich country around Lilydale; he decided to stay and founded the Mooroolbark Station. Gardiner, if not actually the first explorer, was certainly the first pioneer to open up the Upper Yarra; within a few weeks the Ryrie Bros. had established Ryries' Cattle Station (now St. Huberts) at Yering, and were soon followed by Briartys at Woori Yallock and Messrs. Rear and Dorie at Monbulk. Their supplies were taken up by a track which ran along the approximate site of the Doncaster and Old Warrandyte Roads; it then branched off through Stinton Paddock and South Warrandyte to Lilydale etc.
The first people to reside on the territory now occupied by the Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe were Messrs. J. & W. Wood, who were squatting on the Bulleen Flats near the mouth of the Koonung Creek in 1838, and an early map bearing that year refers to Koonung Creek as Woods’ Creek. The Wood Bros. arrived at Port Phillip in 1836. John Wood died at Sydney in 1849.
The Woods were followed closely by James Kennedy, who established a cattle run further up the creek the following year; his hut was close to where the Morning Star Hotel stood in later years, at the junction of the Koonung Creek and the Doncaster Road. The creek in turn was frequently called Kennedy’s Creek for nearly 50 years.
In 1839, James Anderson brought his cattle overland from Sydney and established his run on the creek that has since been called after him, near the present site of Warrandyte. His run was only about 320 acres and he left after about 4 years to take up a better property on the banks of the Salt Water River at Werribee. Whilst at Anderson’s Creek, Anderson gave employment to a young couple by the name of Samuel and Judith Furphy, who had immigrated from Northern Ireland; Judith, who was only 21 years of age, was the first white woman to venture to the Upper Yarra where she had to work among ticket‑of‑leave men and wild blacks were numerous.
Furphy later became overseer at Ryries’ at Yering, and it was here that their second son Joseph was born — he was destined to become the distinguished author Tom Collins, who wrote the famous novel Such is Life. Furphy senior later shifted to Kangaroo Grounds where he built the first school in 1851; still later he opened a hay and corn store at Kyneton. He afterwards purchased the Jubilee Pines Estate in the Corop district and was Government Commissioner on the Echuca and Waranga United Water Trust in the 1880s.
Another early resident of Warrandyte was James Dawson, a sturdy Scot, who founded the Warrandyte station on the Pig Tail Hill in 1841; he remained for 7 or 8 years before selling to J. Thompson, and the property became known as Thompson Pre‑emptive Right. Dawson later shifted to Port Fairy where he farmed until 1862, when the Duffy Land Act interfered with the squatting system and he retired from active business. Mr. Dawson collected a great deal of information about the aborigines which he embodied in his book Australian Aborigines, published by George Robertson in 1881; it still remains one of the foremost authoritative works on the aborigines. He also erected a very fine monument to the Western District aborigines at the Camperdown Cemetery at the cost of more than £200.
To another sturdy Scotchman — Robert Laidlaw — must go the honour of being the first permanent settler in the Shire. He arrived in Melbourne on the Midlothian, the first Scottish immigrant ship to come to Melbourne in 1839, and 2 years after purchased Messrs. J. & W. Wood’s station at Bulleen, in partnership with Hugh Kerr, for £15. The partnership lasted for 18 months, when the big financial depression of the early 1840s set in; sheep they had bought for £1.16.0 a head were sold for as little as 4/6. Kerr later took up the property at the corner of Bulleen and Doncaster Roads which was conducted by Charles Ragg for many years, and Mr. Alex. Duncan — who in 1889 had run Victoria’s first dairy farm on Gardiner’s Creek — went into partnership with Laidlaw.
A large section of Laidlaw’s land at this time was on lease from Unwin Special Survey, later known as the Carleton Estate. The system of special surveys was introduced by the British Government in 1841, whereby any person paying the sum of £5,120 in London could have any 5,120 acres of his choice in the Port Phillip district. Only 8 of these surveys were issued, and 2 were in the vicinity of Doncaster. The Unwin Special Survey, which was taken out by a Sydney solicitor, Robert Wright Unwin, extended from a line close to the Morning Star across to the Yarra on the north and back to Church Road on the east. The other survey was taken out by Randol Dacre acting on behalf of a West Indian merchant by the name of Henry Elgar. It faced the Unwin Survey on the opposite side of Koonung Creek and extended back to Canterbury Road, and was bounded by Elgar and Burke Roads on the east and west respectively. Both surveys are dated the 11th of August 1841.
From the beginning there was rivalry between Unwin and Elgar for a frontage on the Yarra, and in 1844 we find Robert Hoddle coming out to re‑survey both estates with the idea of giving Elgar a more equitable share of the river. At the same time Unwin was granted permission to shift his estate a mile closer to Melbourne, his property coming right up to Koonung Creek, and he dropped a section to the north of Templestowe between the township and the river. Considerable difficulties were experienced in making the re‑survey as both properties had been largely cut up; the problem, however, was overcome when Robert Campbell, a Sydney businessman, agreed to purchase the whole of the properties and convey them back to the Crown for the necessary alterations; he then resold the lots to their respective owners on the new title.
Unwin appears to have completely severed his connection with the property at this juncture, and the property was re‑issued in the name of James Atkinson. Campbell, however, retained his interest and after a few years the property reverted to him.
Atkinson was a well‑known speculator in the early days of Australia. In the 1830s he applied for a 100,000‑acre lease at Twofold Bay, N.S.W., and he evidently had ideas of establishing a town by bringing out 300 immigrants from Northern Ireland. The lease, however, was declined, the Governor pointing out that it was well beyond the line permitted for free settlement and the Government would have to erect churches and schools, etc., at a disadvantage. His hopes of establishing a town of his own were later realized when, in 1847, he purchased the Belfast Special Survey at Port Fairy, and for several years he owned practically the entire town.
Atkinson’s activities at Bulleen commenced about 1843 and, on taking over Unwin Special Survey, he renamed it the Carleton Estate after his eldest son Withsdale Carleton Atkinson; it would appear that the family was in some way related to the celebrated Irish novelist William Carleton. In 1855 a large section of the Carleton Estate was sub‑divided and a township was surveyed at the foot of Smedley’s Hill under the name of Carlton. It was not destined for a great deal of growth, though it was a postal village and a well‑known hotel, the Morning Star, was located there.
The Unwin Estate was taken up rapidly towards the middle of the forties, particularly along the Yarra flats. By the year 1844 the whole of these flats as far as the present township of Templestowe were under cultivation with wheat and potatoes, and it is said that at harvest time it was nothing uncommon to see as many as 50 hands working with the sickle. The grain was carted in bullock wagons to Dight’s Mill, opposite Studley Park, and as there was no bridge, the teams had to be driven through the river at a shallow part near the mill.
When the Bulleen flats were first occupied there were numerous lagoons, which abounded in eels and waterfowl, etc. Here the aboriginals found a happy hunting ground and upwards of 200 members of the Yarra Tribe would frequently camp along the creek; they soon developed a liking for the settlers’ dogs and before long had a numerous following of their own. The flats were covered by large red gum trees which soon fell to the settlers’ axes; these were used for building purposes and were cut up in saw pits along the river bank, traces of which could be seen until comparatively recent years. The lagoons were soon drained for cultivation purposes and dug‑out canoes, used by the natives, were frequently found sunk in the bottoms of the lagoons and were used by the settlers as feeding troughs for their stock.
Messrs. Duncan and Laidlaw were the principal settlers and were successful farmers but, like many others, they had disappointments and setbacks to contend with. In 1847 they consigned the first wheat and barley to be exported from Victoria to England. They sent a parcel of each to ascertain what kind of reception colonial produce could expect on the home market; they received a number of favourable reports, particularly in regard to the barley. It is said that at Edinburgh the agents were at a loss to understand where such fine samples could have come from. Their hopes of developing the flats for wheat, however, were not realized — persistent flooding caused the abandonment of agriculture and the farmers switched to dairying after only a few years.
Very few efforts were made to penetrate the heavily wooded hills in the 1840s; an exception, however, was that of Major Charles Newman, who possessed a square mile of land on Newman’s Road and had quite a large amount under licence. Major Newman was an officer of more than 30 years’ standing with the 51st Native Bengal Infantry; he gave meritorious service to the East India Company and fought in several campaigns of the Indian Mutiny.
In 1834 he retired from active service with the view of obtaining a Government land grant in Australia. He went first to Van Diemen’s Land but, finding all the suitable properties occupied, he crossed to Port Phillip, but had bad luck when the ship carrying his prefabricated home and most of his stock sank in Bass Strait. He farmed for a short time at Dandenong before coming to Templestowe about 1840 and built his two well‑known homesteads “Pontville” and “Monkton” soon after; these residences were good examples of houses built in the forties with 14‑inch walls for protection against aboriginals and bushrangers.
Major Newman had a long struggle against the New South Wales Government over the refund of the purchase price of his property. Governor Gipps declined to grant the refund, stating that Newman was not entitled to a Government grant as he had failed to lodge his application within 12 months of his arrival at Port Phillip. In 1842 the Land and Immigration Commissioners in London agreed with Governor Gipps, and Major Newman made a direct appeal to Queen Victoria in the form of a petition which stated that he had given long and faithful service to the British Army and that he was one of the first to import valuable sheep and horses into Port Phillip.
However, the futility of trying to override the Colonial Governor was shown in the Colonial Secretary’s official reply which was sent through Governor Gipps; he said “that the case had been repeatedly brought before the Government by Major Newman, and you will acquaint that gentleman that I have laid his petition before the Queen, who was pleased to receive it very graciously, but I was not able to direct Her Majesty to comply with the prayer of it”.
Major Newman resided at Templestowe for a number of years before shifting to Lonsdale Street and later to Hawthorn where he died in 1866.
He was a man of very abrupt personality, rather typical of the military officer of his day. He was an outspoken critic of the Lt.‑Governor C. J. Latrobe and played a leading role in an instigation to have him removed from office. Latrobe was more of a writer and adventurer by occupation than anything else and did not exactly fit in with the conservative minds of his day, but there is little doubt that Melbourne owes a great debt to him — the wide thoroughfares and spacious gardens which we enjoy today were largely due to his far‑seeing efforts.
The settlement at Bulleen continued to make steady progress through the forties. The first Government officer was the pound keeper, John James, who was appointed in 1845, and the first church services, which were according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church, were held about the same year at Alex. Duncan’s farm. In the year 1847 a school was established near the Heidelberg Bridge with James Paynter as teacher; there were 27 children at the beginning, but it made rapid progress and in 1850 John Ferguson opened a school near the corner of Williamson and Serpells Roads with more than 80 children.
Inspectors’ reports state that Ferguson had previously taught at Heidelberg but had been dismissed for intemperance; he had, however, reformed, and the Inspector was hopeful that he would make a better fist of it at Templestowe. The schoolroom, however, was very dilapidated. By the year 1850 a punt had been established across the Yarra at Heidelberg — it proved a boon to the residents of the Carleton Estate. The lessee of the punt in the early years was James Mahon, a well‑known farmer of Bulleen. It also appears likely that a store was established on the estate at this time, but of that we have no proof.
The discovery of gold in August 1851 had a profound effect on the district; quite a number of the residents left for the diggings, but some remained, and several of the farmers along the flats earned fantastic money by growing potatoes and other produce. The shortage of labour had sent prices skyrocketing and some farmers made as much as £6,000 in the one season.
In spite of the rush to the diggings there was considerable development during 1852. That year witnessed the first serious attempt to open up the heavily timbered hills. In that year John Chivers took up a 100‑acre strip along Church Road, Templestowe, and by the end of the year all the country had been taken up as far as Newman’s Road.
On September 23rd Templestowe was proclaimed a village and surveyed by Henry B. Foote; Dandenong was proclaimed on the same day. The first sale of town allotments was held at Tennant & Company’s Auction Rooms, 50 Collins St. West, which was located at the south‑east corner of Collins and Queen Streets, on the 22nd March 1854. The Argus commented that the majority of people present at the sale were inhabitants of the neighbourhood; in all, 19 two‑rood allotments were sold at an average of £38 each, the upset price being only £2.10.0.
Several families who have since become respected residents of the district were included among those who purchased land that day, including John Holmes, Patrick and David Mahoney, Robert Smith, James Hewish, David Bell, John Semar, Ambrose Pullin, John Chivers, William Thompson and Elizabeth Williamson.
The name Templestowe is derived from Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe and means “a place for a Temple,” but unfortunately there is nothing to show who suggested the name, as it is believed to be the only town in the world bearing that name.
The first written account of the village is given by William Westgarth in his book Victorian and Australian Goldfields 1857. Westgarth describes a journey he made to Anderson’s Creek on February 22nd, 1855, in company with members of the Gold Complaints Committee. He gives a good description of his journey out, stating the road as far as Heidelberg was cut at the sides with an occasional slight attempt at levelling, though the metalling ceased at Nicholson Street. From Heidelberg out there appears to have been only dray tracks, and probably not even that.
He was much dismayed at the wastage of good soil and the unfarmerlike practice of keeping growing trees in the middle of ploughed fields and cultivations. He observed that the Scottish farmer, who so zealously circumscribes the spreading wings of his thorn hedges and who narrows down his boundary footpath to the merest possibility of getting along, would probably have earned quite a good living by cultivating the waste corners and borders of the Heidelberg and Templestowe properties.
Templestowe he described as a small village containing a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a few houses and gardens.
The hotel which Westgarth refers to was first called the Bulleen Hotel, and was later known as the Templestowe and finally the Upper Yarra. It was run for several years in the fifties by David Bell and later in the sixties by Robert Mundy; in 1872 it was taken over by James Finn who conducted it for many years. The building is still standing. The blacksmith shop was run by Thomas Meddings. In 1856 James Howish opened a butcher shop on the site now occupied by the Templestowe Cool Stores; it was taken over a few weeks after the opening by the Smith family who ran the business for many years.
The township became the proud possessor of its own Roads Board in December 1856, the doings of which we will deal with separately. In 1857 the gold fever actually spread to Templestowe when a substantial find was made on the property of Robert Nalder Clarke Esq., at the junction of Thompson Road and Foote Street; the lead was lost in the early sixties and the mine stood dormant for a long time but was discovered again in the 1880s and worked again with success.
Clarke was a notable resident of Templestowe for some 5 or 6 years; he was a graduate in Arts at the Cambridge University and was also a member of the Templestowe Roads Board for some time. In 1856 he unsuccessfully stood for the Kyneton electorate in the first Victorian Parliament.
Templestowe had no fewer than 4 hotels and beer shops in the 1860s — the Upper Yarra, the present Templestowe Hotel which was conducted by F. H. Sparkes who sold it to J. Gorman in February 1870 and who, in turn, sold it to Patrick Sheehan in March 1871; it remained in the Sheehan family until 1930. It has changed hands several times since.
Two small hotels or beer shops stood opposite each other on the bend of the main road above Foote Street; one was owned by Louis De Compte and the other by Jackeriah Jenkins. There was considerable rivalry between the two, and they came to an unhappy end on the 19th June 1870 when De Compte’s haystack caught alight and burnt Jenkins’ hotel down, who claimed considerable damages for incendiarism.
About the year 1860 James Field opened a store on the corner now occupied by Mr. Ted Sheehan’s residence; however, James Hart is said to have conducted a store even prior to this a little closer to the township. He also ran a kind of unofficial mail service to Heidelberg before the days of the post office at Templestowe.
An organisation which did a great deal to publicise the district and make its possibilities known as fruit growing centre was the Victorian Vineyard and Fruit Garden Company which was founded by S Wekey and several prominent Melbourne citizens as directors and shareholders, including the mayor of Melbourne, Major Hodgson and Mr J0 Shannassy, later premier of Victoria etc. In stating the ideal of the company at a public meeting in Melbourne on September 23d 1854, Mr. Wakey stated that in spite of the remarkable yields of the Victorian Goldmines, circumstances showed that the general prosperity of the colony would be greater had more attention been directed to agriculture. He said that the principle object of the company was horticulture, fruits and grapes etc., but not flowers as they were catered for by the botanical gardens. Another object was the promotion of temperance, the depressing amount of drunkardness, so prevalent in the colony, was due, he said, to the amount of ardent spirits that was consumed and the introduction of pure wines would do much to make Victoria a more temperate colony.
Grapes were the principle concern of the company, as they were the only fruit that had been tried to any extent. It was estimated that if the ruling price of 3/6 a pound on the Melbourne Market held, the company would almost cover its outlay in the first season's production.
The company made an immediate application to the Government for a land grant and were granted 200 acres adjoining the village of Templestowe. In November the Argus announced that the company was well established. "Speed the plough and sink shafts for coal, and then we say the general prosperity of Victoria will be established on a foundation as firm and as permanent as that of any country in the world" added the Argus.
Unfortunately, though the company was established on very laudable ideals, it lacked organisation and good management; the following article in the press on August 29th 1856 tells its own story of the company's dismal failure. "The Victorian Vineyard Company has at last resolved upon winding up its affairs, nearly 2 years have elapsed since the undertaking was commenced, but not a single vine has been planted. An offer was made for the company's land at an advance upon the cost price, and the difference will about cover the expense incurred so that the shareholders will not be sufferers".
Though the company itself proved a dismal failure there is little doubt that it did a good deal to further the district, an interesting project that it was associated with was the erection of a bridge over the river behind the Upper Yarra Hotel at Templestowe. The directors, believing that such a structure would do much to advance the district, called a public meeting at the Bulleen Hotel on March 10th 1855 to consider the advisability of erecting the bridge. Mr. Wakey stated that the Heidelberg punt had earnt £600 in 1853 and £1,800 in 1854, and he thought that it was not unreasonable to estimate the revenue of the bridge at twice that of the punt and it would, therefore, cover the cost of the erection of the bridge which was estimated at £4,000. He moved that the meeting, "aware of the great advantages that would arise from communications being effected across the Yarra behind the township of Templestowe, as by such means the distance from Eltham to Melbourne would 4 miles less than by the present main road, and also occasion an increase of traffic between the townships of Templestowe and Heidelberg and Kew and the neighbourhood along the line of the respective roads, do pledge themselves to use all their energy and influence towards the erection of the said bridge at the place indicated with the least possible delay".
The motion was seconded by David Bell and carried unanimously, and the following were elected as a local committee to assist with the project:- James Hewish, John James, David Bell, John Clarke, John Scott, James Crooks and Edward Watson.
The proposal met with a cordial reception from the people of Eltham and 127 shares were purchased at a meeting held in the Fountain of Friendship Hotel at Eltham the following week, other meetings took place at Kangaroo Ground and adjoining centres and, in July, the company let the contract for the building to Messrs. Abbott and Green, when it was stipulated that the work must be completed within 4 months. A hitch occurred in October when it was found that the bed of the river was unsuitable for the foundations and certain modifications had to be made to the plans; the contractors contended that they were entitled to be allowed for the alterations, the dispute, however, appears to have been straightened out and the work completed a little behind schedule.
The bridge was washed away in the great flood of December 1868. At one stage the Victorian Vineyard Company announced that they intended to run an omnibus service from Eltham to Melbourne via Templestowe and Kew. This did not materialise but there is no doubt the bridge was a success and a fair bit of local traffic passed between Eltham and Templestowe although it was not used a great deal by through traffic owing to the rough state of the roads at Bulleen. There is some doubt as to whether Thompson Road, which is acknowledged as the oldest road in the shire, existed prior to the opening of this bridge, but it was certainly the road used by through traffic from Eltham to Melbourne by those who chose that route.
In 1869 the Government replaced the Heidelberg punt by a bridge at a cost of £8,000, but it appears that the punt was some distance downstream from the bridge and it took several months of negotiation before the Government would agree to build the approaches so the bridge could be used. In the year 1858 the present Banksia Street is referred to as Punt Road.
A feature of the early life of Bulleen which has been largely forgotten by the residents, was the annual ploughing matches conducted by the Victorian Agricultural Society on Mr. Mahon's farm. Farmers came for miles to attend these contests and Mr. Mahon, as lessee of the punt, transported the horse and bullock teams across the river free of charge for the occasions. Prizes for the best horse and bullock teams ranged from £5 to £8, with £2 for the man who ploughed the best furrow. Among the contestants who took part with success were J. O'Meil, J. O'Sullivan, Hugh Kerr, Robert Munday, Richard O'Swin and John Brown.
Among the residents who contributed to the commercial and social life of Templestowe in the fifties and sixties was Richard Davies Ireland, one of the best known Barristers and Criminal Lawyers ever to plead before the Victorian Bar. He came to Templestowe towards the end of the fifties, his house being situated at the extreme end of Mahoney St. next to the river. Ireland is said to have earned more than £140,000 in professional fees alone, though he died a comparatively poor man at Prahran in 1877. He was born in Galway, Ireland, and had a brilliant career with the Irish Bar where he was associated with John O'Connell in the cause of Ireland before coming to Victoria in 1852. He had a brilliant parliamentary as well as legal career and was twice Attorney-General of Victoria; at the bar his most celebrated cases were the trial of Eureka Stockade rioters in 1855, and his appearance for Messrs. Cornish and Bruce, when they sued the Victorian Government for £300,000, alleging that they had been underpaid to that extent in connection with the building of the Bendigo Railway. The case lasted 36 days and ended with an award of £237,000 damages for the plaintiff. Though he had a town house at the corner of High and Alma Streets, St. Kilda, Ireland spent a good deal of his time at Templestowe, it is said that his family was rather a wild one and were noted for the big parties they held at the Old England at Heidelberg.
Another prominent personality was Robert Charles Balburnie-Vans who conducted a farm on the Bulleen flats. His father, Robert Anthurson Balburnie Vans conducted the first punt across the Yarra behind Young and Jackson's Hotel in 1838 and was later lessee of the Poll; he was a direct descendent of Lord Balmarino who suffered death at the Tower of London for the cause of Scotland at the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Balmarino Street, Toorak, commemorates the name of his well known residence of that name.
Other notable residents include George McGahy, Sydney Ricardo, Ambrose Pullin who came to Bulleen as early as 1842, John Adams who came about the same year and settled near Thompson Road, the Smith Brothers, David, John, Joseph, James, who came from Scotland about 1853 and became quite successful farmers in the district; Robert Hunter, a carpenter who built several of Templestowe's earliest houses including the residence now occupied by Mr. John Mullins. He first settled near the Heidelberg Bridge and shifted to the corner of Anderson and James Streets in 1860. James Hewish who came to Australia first for the enterprising Ben Boyd in the early 1840s. Boyd established a colony at Two Fold Bay along similar lines to Atkinson, he was also proprietor of the Royal Bank of Australia, and Boyd and Company shipping lines which ran 6 steam and sailing ships. He is the great grandfather of Mr. Lennox Boyd, the former British Colonial Secretary. Hewish did not stay long with Boyd at Two Fold Bay and brought his stock overland to Templestowe in 1844 where he was one of the principle land owners for many years and was also prominent in the local Roads Board. Several of his descendants are still residing in the district.
In March 1837, the Chief Port Phillip Surveyor, Robert Hoddle, made a trip up the Yarra in executing his survey of the County of Bourke, and though little can be said of the actual route he followed, it is notable that both the Parishes of Bulleen and Warrandyte appear in his survey map. About the same month, Jack Gardiner, who had a station on the banks of Gardiner's Creek, followed some straying stock up the Yarra and came across the rich country around Lilydale; he decided to stay and founded the Mooroolbark Station. Gardiner, if not actually the first explorer, was certainly the first pioneer to open up the Upper Yarra; within a few weeks the Ryrie Bros. had established Ryries' Cattle Station (now St. Huberts) at Yering, and were soon followed by Briartys at Woori Yallock and Messrs. Rear and Dorie at Monbulk. Their supplies were taken up by a track which ran along the approximate site of the Doncaster and Old Warrandyte Roads; it then branched off through Stinton Paddock and South Warrandyte to Lilydale etc.
The first people to reside on the territory now occupied by the Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe were Messrs. J. & W. Wood, who were squatting on the Bulleen Flats near the mouth of the Koonung Creek in 1838, and an early map bearing that year refers to Koonung Creek as Woods’ Creek. The Wood Bros. arrived at Port Phillip in 1836. John Wood died at Sydney in 1849.
The Woods were followed closely by James Kennedy, who established a cattle run further up the creek the following year; his hut was close to where the Morning Star Hotel stood in later years, at the junction of the Koonung Creek and the Doncaster Road. The creek in turn was frequently called Kennedy’s Creek for nearly 50 years.
In 1839, James Anderson brought his cattle overland from Sydney and established his run on the creek that has since been called after him, near the present site of Warrandyte. His run was only about 320 acres and he left after about 4 years to take up a better property on the banks of the Salt Water River at Werribee. Whilst at Anderson’s Creek, Anderson gave employment to a young couple by the name of Samuel and Judith Furphy, who had immigrated from Northern Ireland; Judith, who was only 21 years of age, was the first white woman to venture to the Upper Yarra where she had to work among ticket‑of‑leave men and wild blacks were numerous.
Furphy later became overseer at Ryries’ at Yering, and it was here that their second son Joseph was born — he was destined to become the distinguished author Tom Collins, who wrote the famous novel Such is Life. Furphy senior later shifted to Kangaroo Grounds where he built the first school in 1851; still later he opened a hay and corn store at Kyneton. He afterwards purchased the Jubilee Pines Estate in the Corop district and was Government Commissioner on the Echuca and Waranga United Water Trust in the 1880s.
Another early resident of Warrandyte was James Dawson, a sturdy Scot, who founded the Warrandyte station on the Pig Tail Hill in 1841; he remained for 7 or 8 years before selling to J. Thompson, and the property became known as Thompson Pre‑emptive Right. Dawson later shifted to Port Fairy where he farmed until 1862, when the Duffy Land Act interfered with the squatting system and he retired from active business. Mr. Dawson collected a great deal of information about the aborigines which he embodied in his book Australian Aborigines, published by George Robertson in 1881; it still remains one of the foremost authoritative works on the aborigines. He also erected a very fine monument to the Western District aborigines at the Camperdown Cemetery at the cost of more than £200.
To another sturdy Scotchman — Robert Laidlaw — must go the honour of being the first permanent settler in the Shire. He arrived in Melbourne on the Midlothian, the first Scottish immigrant ship to come to Melbourne in 1839, and 2 years after purchased Messrs. J. & W. Wood’s station at Bulleen, in partnership with Hugh Kerr, for £15. The partnership lasted for 18 months, when the big financial depression of the early 1840s set in; sheep they had bought for £1.16.0 a head were sold for as little as 4/6. Kerr later took up the property at the corner of Bulleen and Doncaster Roads which was conducted by Charles Ragg for many years, and Mr. Alex. Duncan — who in 1889 had run Victoria’s first dairy farm on Gardiner’s Creek — went into partnership with Laidlaw.
A large section of Laidlaw’s land at this time was on lease from Unwin Special Survey, later known as the Carleton Estate. The system of special surveys was introduced by the British Government in 1841, whereby any person paying the sum of £5,120 in London could have any 5,120 acres of his choice in the Port Phillip district. Only 8 of these surveys were issued, and 2 were in the vicinity of Doncaster. The Unwin Special Survey, which was taken out by a Sydney solicitor, Robert Wright Unwin, extended from a line close to the Morning Star across to the Yarra on the north and back to Church Road on the east. The other survey was taken out by Randol Dacre acting on behalf of a West Indian merchant by the name of Henry Elgar. It faced the Unwin Survey on the opposite side of Koonung Creek and extended back to Canterbury Road, and was bounded by Elgar and Burke Roads on the east and west respectively. Both surveys are dated the 11th of August 1841.
From the beginning there was rivalry between Unwin and Elgar for a frontage on the Yarra, and in 1844 we find Robert Hoddle coming out to re‑survey both estates with the idea of giving Elgar a more equitable share of the river. At the same time Unwin was granted permission to shift his estate a mile closer to Melbourne, his property coming right up to Koonung Creek, and he dropped a section to the north of Templestowe between the township and the river. Considerable difficulties were experienced in making the re‑survey as both properties had been largely cut up; the problem, however, was overcome when Robert Campbell, a Sydney businessman, agreed to purchase the whole of the properties and convey them back to the Crown for the necessary alterations; he then resold the lots to their respective owners on the new title.
Unwin appears to have completely severed his connection with the property at this juncture, and the property was re‑issued in the name of James Atkinson. Campbell, however, retained his interest and after a few years the property reverted to him.
Atkinson was a well‑known speculator in the early days of Australia. In the 1830s he applied for a 100,000‑acre lease at Twofold Bay, N.S.W., and he evidently had ideas of establishing a town by bringing out 300 immigrants from Northern Ireland. The lease, however, was declined, the Governor pointing out that it was well beyond the line permitted for free settlement and the Government would have to erect churches and schools, etc., at a disadvantage. His hopes of establishing a town of his own were later realized when, in 1847, he purchased the Belfast Special Survey at Port Fairy, and for several years he owned practically the entire town.
Atkinson’s activities at Bulleen commenced about 1843 and, on taking over Unwin Special Survey, he renamed it the Carleton Estate after his eldest son Withsdale Carleton Atkinson; it would appear that the family was in some way related to the celebrated Irish novelist William Carleton. In 1855 a large section of the Carleton Estate was sub‑divided and a township was surveyed at the foot of Smedley’s Hill under the name of Carlton. It was not destined for a great deal of growth, though it was a postal village and a well‑known hotel, the Morning Star, was located there.
The Unwin Estate was taken up rapidly towards the middle of the forties, particularly along the Yarra flats. By the year 1844 the whole of these flats as far as the present township of Templestowe were under cultivation with wheat and potatoes, and it is said that at harvest time it was nothing uncommon to see as many as 50 hands working with the sickle. The grain was carted in bullock wagons to Dight’s Mill, opposite Studley Park, and as there was no bridge, the teams had to be driven through the river at a shallow part near the mill.
When the Bulleen flats were first occupied there were numerous lagoons, which abounded in eels and waterfowl, etc. Here the aboriginals found a happy hunting ground and upwards of 200 members of the Yarra Tribe would frequently camp along the creek; they soon developed a liking for the settlers’ dogs and before long had a numerous following of their own. The flats were covered by large red gum trees which soon fell to the settlers’ axes; these were used for building purposes and were cut up in saw pits along the river bank, traces of which could be seen until comparatively recent years. The lagoons were soon drained for cultivation purposes and dug‑out canoes, used by the natives, were frequently found sunk in the bottoms of the lagoons and were used by the settlers as feeding troughs for their stock.
Messrs. Duncan and Laidlaw were the principal settlers and were successful farmers but, like many others, they had disappointments and setbacks to contend with. In 1847 they consigned the first wheat and barley to be exported from Victoria to England. They sent a parcel of each to ascertain what kind of reception colonial produce could expect on the home market; they received a number of favourable reports, particularly in regard to the barley. It is said that at Edinburgh the agents were at a loss to understand where such fine samples could have come from. Their hopes of developing the flats for wheat, however, were not realized — persistent flooding caused the abandonment of agriculture and the farmers switched to dairying after only a few years.
Very few efforts were made to penetrate the heavily wooded hills in the 1840s; an exception, however, was that of Major Charles Newman, who possessed a square mile of land on Newman’s Road and had quite a large amount under licence. Major Newman was an officer of more than 30 years’ standing with the 51st Native Bengal Infantry; he gave meritorious service to the East India Company and fought in several campaigns of the Indian Mutiny.
In 1834 he retired from active service with the view of obtaining a Government land grant in Australia. He went first to Van Diemen’s Land but, finding all the suitable properties occupied, he crossed to Port Phillip, but had bad luck when the ship carrying his prefabricated home and most of his stock sank in Bass Strait. He farmed for a short time at Dandenong before coming to Templestowe about 1840 and built his two well‑known homesteads “Pontville” and “Monkton” soon after; these residences were good examples of houses built in the forties with 14‑inch walls for protection against aboriginals and bushrangers.
Major Newman had a long struggle against the New South Wales Government over the refund of the purchase price of his property. Governor Gipps declined to grant the refund, stating that Newman was not entitled to a Government grant as he had failed to lodge his application within 12 months of his arrival at Port Phillip. In 1842 the Land and Immigration Commissioners in London agreed with Governor Gipps, and Major Newman made a direct appeal to Queen Victoria in the form of a petition which stated that he had given long and faithful service to the British Army and that he was one of the first to import valuable sheep and horses into Port Phillip.
However, the futility of trying to override the Colonial Governor was shown in the Colonial Secretary’s official reply which was sent through Governor Gipps; he said “that the case had been repeatedly brought before the Government by Major Newman, and you will acquaint that gentleman that I have laid his petition before the Queen, who was pleased to receive it very graciously, but I was not able to direct Her Majesty to comply with the prayer of it”.
Major Newman resided at Templestowe for a number of years before shifting to Lonsdale Street and later to Hawthorn where he died in 1866.
He was a man of very abrupt personality, rather typical of the military officer of his day. He was an outspoken critic of the Lt.‑Governor C. J. Latrobe and played a leading role in an instigation to have him removed from office. Latrobe was more of a writer and adventurer by occupation than anything else and did not exactly fit in with the conservative minds of his day, but there is little doubt that Melbourne owes a great debt to him — the wide thoroughfares and spacious gardens which we enjoy today were largely due to his far‑seeing efforts.
The settlement at Bulleen continued to make steady progress through the forties. The first Government officer was the pound keeper, John James, who was appointed in 1845, and the first church services, which were according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church, were held about the same year at Alex. Duncan’s farm. In the year 1847 a school was established near the Heidelberg Bridge with James Paynter as teacher; there were 27 children at the beginning, but it made rapid progress and in 1850 John Ferguson opened a school near the corner of Williamson and Serpells Roads with more than 80 children.
Inspectors’ reports state that Ferguson had previously taught at Heidelberg but had been dismissed for intemperance; he had, however, reformed, and the Inspector was hopeful that he would make a better fist of it at Templestowe. The schoolroom, however, was very dilapidated. By the year 1850 a punt had been established across the Yarra at Heidelberg — it proved a boon to the residents of the Carleton Estate. The lessee of the punt in the early years was James Mahon, a well‑known farmer of Bulleen. It also appears likely that a store was established on the estate at this time, but of that we have no proof.
The discovery of gold in August 1851 had a profound effect on the district; quite a number of the residents left for the diggings, but some remained, and several of the farmers along the flats earned fantastic money by growing potatoes and other produce. The shortage of labour had sent prices skyrocketing and some farmers made as much as £6,000 in the one season.
In spite of the rush to the diggings there was considerable development during 1852. That year witnessed the first serious attempt to open up the heavily timbered hills. In that year John Chivers took up a 100‑acre strip along Church Road, Templestowe, and by the end of the year all the country had been taken up as far as Newman’s Road.
On September 23rd Templestowe was proclaimed a village and surveyed by Henry B. Foote; Dandenong was proclaimed on the same day. The first sale of town allotments was held at Tennant & Company’s Auction Rooms, 50 Collins St. West, which was located at the south‑east corner of Collins and Queen Streets, on the 22nd March 1854. The Argus commented that the majority of people present at the sale were inhabitants of the neighbourhood; in all, 19 two‑rood allotments were sold at an average of £38 each, the upset price being only £2.10.0.
Several families who have since become respected residents of the district were included among those who purchased land that day, including John Holmes, Patrick and David Mahoney, Robert Smith, James Hewish, David Bell, John Semar, Ambrose Pullin, John Chivers, William Thompson and Elizabeth Williamson.
The name Templestowe is derived from Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe and means “a place for a Temple,” but unfortunately there is nothing to show who suggested the name, as it is believed to be the only town in the world bearing that name.
The first written account of the village is given by William Westgarth in his book Victorian and Australian Goldfields 1857. Westgarth describes a journey he made to Anderson’s Creek on February 22nd, 1855, in company with members of the Gold Complaints Committee. He gives a good description of his journey out, stating the road as far as Heidelberg was cut at the sides with an occasional slight attempt at levelling, though the metalling ceased at Nicholson Street. From Heidelberg out there appears to have been only dray tracks, and probably not even that.
He was much dismayed at the wastage of good soil and the unfarmerlike practice of keeping growing trees in the middle of ploughed fields and cultivations. He observed that the Scottish farmer, who so zealously circumscribes the spreading wings of his thorn hedges and who narrows down his boundary footpath to the merest possibility of getting along, would probably have earned quite a good living by cultivating the waste corners and borders of the Heidelberg and Templestowe properties.
Templestowe he described as a small village containing a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a few houses and gardens.
The hotel which Westgarth refers to was first called the Bulleen Hotel, and was later known as the Templestowe and finally the Upper Yarra. It was run for several years in the fifties by David Bell and later in the sixties by Robert Mundy; in 1872 it was taken over by James Finn who conducted it for many years. The building is still standing. The blacksmith shop was run by Thomas Meddings. In 1856 James Howish opened a butcher shop on the site now occupied by the Templestowe Cool Stores; it was taken over a few weeks after the opening by the Smith family who ran the business for many years.
The township became the proud possessor of its own Roads Board in December 1856, the doings of which we will deal with separately. In 1857 the gold fever actually spread to Templestowe when a substantial find was made on the property of Robert Nalder Clarke Esq., at the junction of Thompson Road and Foote Street; the lead was lost in the early sixties and the mine stood dormant for a long time but was discovered again in the 1880s and worked again with success.
Clarke was a notable resident of Templestowe for some 5 or 6 years; he was a graduate in Arts at the Cambridge University and was also a member of the Templestowe Roads Board for some time. In 1856 he unsuccessfully stood for the Kyneton electorate in the first Victorian Parliament.
Templestowe had no fewer than 4 hotels and beer shops in the 1860s — the Upper Yarra, the present Templestowe Hotel which was conducted by F. H. Sparkes who sold it to J. Gorman in February 1870 and who, in turn, sold it to Patrick Sheehan in March 1871; it remained in the Sheehan family until 1930. It has changed hands several times since.
Two small hotels or beer shops stood opposite each other on the bend of the main road above Foote Street; one was owned by Louis De Compte and the other by Jackeriah Jenkins. There was considerable rivalry between the two, and they came to an unhappy end on the 19th June 1870 when De Compte’s haystack caught alight and burnt Jenkins’ hotel down, who claimed considerable damages for incendiarism.
About the year 1860 James Field opened a store on the corner now occupied by Mr. Ted Sheehan’s residence; however, James Hart is said to have conducted a store even prior to this a little closer to the township. He also ran a kind of unofficial mail service to Heidelberg before the days of the post office at Templestowe.
An organisation which did a great deal to publicise the district and make its possibilities known as fruit growing centre was the Victorian Vineyard and Fruit Garden Company which was founded by S Wekey and several prominent Melbourne citizens as directors and shareholders, including the mayor of Melbourne, Major Hodgson and Mr J0 Shannassy, later premier of Victoria etc. In stating the ideal of the company at a public meeting in Melbourne on September 23d 1854, Mr. Wakey stated that in spite of the remarkable yields of the Victorian Goldmines, circumstances showed that the general prosperity of the colony would be greater had more attention been directed to agriculture. He said that the principle object of the company was horticulture, fruits and grapes etc., but not flowers as they were catered for by the botanical gardens. Another object was the promotion of temperance, the depressing amount of drunkardness, so prevalent in the colony, was due, he said, to the amount of ardent spirits that was consumed and the introduction of pure wines would do much to make Victoria a more temperate colony.
Grapes were the principle concern of the company, as they were the only fruit that had been tried to any extent. It was estimated that if the ruling price of 3/6 a pound on the Melbourne Market held, the company would almost cover its outlay in the first season's production.
The company made an immediate application to the Government for a land grant and were granted 200 acres adjoining the village of Templestowe. In November the Argus announced that the company was well established. "Speed the plough and sink shafts for coal, and then we say the general prosperity of Victoria will be established on a foundation as firm and as permanent as that of any country in the world" added the Argus.
Unfortunately, though the company was established on very laudable ideals, it lacked organisation and good management; the following article in the press on August 29th 1856 tells its own story of the company's dismal failure. "The Victorian Vineyard Company has at last resolved upon winding up its affairs, nearly 2 years have elapsed since the undertaking was commenced, but not a single vine has been planted. An offer was made for the company's land at an advance upon the cost price, and the difference will about cover the expense incurred so that the shareholders will not be sufferers".
Though the company itself proved a dismal failure there is little doubt that it did a good deal to further the district, an interesting project that it was associated with was the erection of a bridge over the river behind the Upper Yarra Hotel at Templestowe. The directors, believing that such a structure would do much to advance the district, called a public meeting at the Bulleen Hotel on March 10th 1855 to consider the advisability of erecting the bridge. Mr. Wakey stated that the Heidelberg punt had earnt £600 in 1853 and £1,800 in 1854, and he thought that it was not unreasonable to estimate the revenue of the bridge at twice that of the punt and it would, therefore, cover the cost of the erection of the bridge which was estimated at £4,000. He moved that the meeting, "aware of the great advantages that would arise from communications being effected across the Yarra behind the township of Templestowe, as by such means the distance from Eltham to Melbourne would 4 miles less than by the present main road, and also occasion an increase of traffic between the townships of Templestowe and Heidelberg and Kew and the neighbourhood along the line of the respective roads, do pledge themselves to use all their energy and influence towards the erection of the said bridge at the place indicated with the least possible delay".
The motion was seconded by David Bell and carried unanimously, and the following were elected as a local committee to assist with the project:- James Hewish, John James, David Bell, John Clarke, John Scott, James Crooks and Edward Watson.
The proposal met with a cordial reception from the people of Eltham and 127 shares were purchased at a meeting held in the Fountain of Friendship Hotel at Eltham the following week, other meetings took place at Kangaroo Ground and adjoining centres and, in July, the company let the contract for the building to Messrs. Abbott and Green, when it was stipulated that the work must be completed within 4 months. A hitch occurred in October when it was found that the bed of the river was unsuitable for the foundations and certain modifications had to be made to the plans; the contractors contended that they were entitled to be allowed for the alterations, the dispute, however, appears to have been straightened out and the work completed a little behind schedule.
The bridge was washed away in the great flood of December 1868. At one stage the Victorian Vineyard Company announced that they intended to run an omnibus service from Eltham to Melbourne via Templestowe and Kew. This did not materialise but there is no doubt the bridge was a success and a fair bit of local traffic passed between Eltham and Templestowe although it was not used a great deal by through traffic owing to the rough state of the roads at Bulleen. There is some doubt as to whether Thompson Road, which is acknowledged as the oldest road in the shire, existed prior to the opening of this bridge, but it was certainly the road used by through traffic from Eltham to Melbourne by those who chose that route.
In 1869 the Government replaced the Heidelberg punt by a bridge at a cost of £8,000, but it appears that the punt was some distance downstream from the bridge and it took several months of negotiation before the Government would agree to build the approaches so the bridge could be used. In the year 1858 the present Banksia Street is referred to as Punt Road.
A feature of the early life of Bulleen which has been largely forgotten by the residents, was the annual ploughing matches conducted by the Victorian Agricultural Society on Mr. Mahon's farm. Farmers came for miles to attend these contests and Mr. Mahon, as lessee of the punt, transported the horse and bullock teams across the river free of charge for the occasions. Prizes for the best horse and bullock teams ranged from £5 to £8, with £2 for the man who ploughed the best furrow. Among the contestants who took part with success were J. O'Meil, J. O'Sullivan, Hugh Kerr, Robert Munday, Richard O'Swin and John Brown.
Among the residents who contributed to the commercial and social life of Templestowe in the fifties and sixties was Richard Davies Ireland, one of the best known Barristers and Criminal Lawyers ever to plead before the Victorian Bar. He came to Templestowe towards the end of the fifties, his house being situated at the extreme end of Mahoney St. next to the river. Ireland is said to have earned more than £140,000 in professional fees alone, though he died a comparatively poor man at Prahran in 1877. He was born in Galway, Ireland, and had a brilliant career with the Irish Bar where he was associated with John O'Connell in the cause of Ireland before coming to Victoria in 1852. He had a brilliant parliamentary as well as legal career and was twice Attorney-General of Victoria; at the bar his most celebrated cases were the trial of Eureka Stockade rioters in 1855, and his appearance for Messrs. Cornish and Bruce, when they sued the Victorian Government for £300,000, alleging that they had been underpaid to that extent in connection with the building of the Bendigo Railway. The case lasted 36 days and ended with an award of £237,000 damages for the plaintiff. Though he had a town house at the corner of High and Alma Streets, St. Kilda, Ireland spent a good deal of his time at Templestowe, it is said that his family was rather a wild one and were noted for the big parties they held at the Old England at Heidelberg.
Another prominent personality was Robert Charles Balburnie-Vans who conducted a farm on the Bulleen flats. His father, Robert Anthurson Balburnie Vans conducted the first punt across the Yarra behind Young and Jackson's Hotel in 1838 and was later lessee of the Poll; he was a direct descendent of Lord Balmarino who suffered death at the Tower of London for the cause of Scotland at the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Balmarino Street, Toorak, commemorates the name of his well known residence of that name.
Other notable residents include George McGahy, Sydney Ricardo, Ambrose Pullin who came to Bulleen as early as 1842, John Adams who came about the same year and settled near Thompson Road, the Smith Brothers, David, John, Joseph, James, who came from Scotland about 1853 and became quite successful farmers in the district; Robert Hunter, a carpenter who built several of Templestowe's earliest houses including the residence now occupied by Mr. John Mullins. He first settled near the Heidelberg Bridge and shifted to the corner of Anderson and James Streets in 1860. James Hewish who came to Australia first for the enterprising Ben Boyd in the early 1840s. Boyd established a colony at Two Fold Bay along similar lines to Atkinson, he was also proprietor of the Royal Bank of Australia, and Boyd and Company shipping lines which ran 6 steam and sailing ships. He is the great grandfather of Mr. Lennox Boyd, the former British Colonial Secretary. Hewish did not stay long with Boyd at Two Fold Bay and brought his stock overland to Templestowe in 1844 where he was one of the principle land owners for many years and was also prominent in the local Roads Board. Several of his descendants are still residing in the district.
Source: We believe from handwritten notes in records that the following text is an unpublished manuscript in 2 volumes (Ch1-11 and Ch12-21) written by Louis Radnor Cranfield (1927- 14 Oct 1992) F.R.HIST.S. (Fellow of the Royal Historical Society). Find a Grave Record. National Library of Australia Record.
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