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Yan Yean Reservoir

The Yan Yean Reservoir is the oldest water supply for the city of Melbourne. Work began in 1853 at the height of the gold rush, and it took four years to construct at a cost of £750,000.

At the time of its completion in 1857 it was the largest artificial reservoir in the world.

Categories Places of Historical interest/Street Names

LAUNCESTON ELLIOT

Britain’s First Olympic Champion who later came to live in Whittlesea.            By Gwen Hawke and Maureen Doyle Launceston Elliot was born in India on 9th June 1874, but his parents,who married in Carlton in 1873, chose his name because he had been conceived in the City of Launceston. Launceston was the son of Gilbert Wray Elliot and his third...

Categories Articles - Essays

HORSE TROUGH IN HIGH ST. EPPING

Horse Trough by Wendy Lowry. How many times have you driven along High Street, Epping near Park Street and not noticed the concrete horse trough  on the side of the road? Well I am sure there would be lots of people who did not know it was there. It turns out it was one of many scattered around Victoria as...

Categories Articles - Essays

EXHIBITION OF THE FAY THOMAS COLLECTION

Faye Thomas Collection by Wendy Lowry. At the end of January 2016, several members of the Whittlesea Historical Society were invited to attend the display at the Whittlesea Shire Offices of a cross section of the Fay Thomas Archival Collection. Heritage Coordinator , Colleen Lazenby in conjunction with the Executors of Faye Thomas presented a mixture of photographs, letters, maps...

Categories Articles - Essays

EUPHEMERAL OBJECTS

Euphemeral Objects by Wendy Lowry The word “euphemeral” relates to items that are short lived or transitory in nature. I have come into the possession of an euphemeral object of a Train Timetable for June 1949. This Timetable is for Melbourne to Keon Park , Thomastown and vice a versa. In 1949 there were first and second class fares available...

Categories Articles - Essays

DYSON’S BUS COMPANY

Dyson’s Moving with the Times by Wendy Lowry. As part of the Whittlesea Cultural Heritage Program in October 2017, Dyson’s Bus Company allowed a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes and learn more about this iconic local, Australian family owned  and operated business. The family business started out  in Melbourne’s north in 1952, beginning in Reservoir and East Preston....

Categories Articles - Essays

DRYSTONE WALLS

DRYSTONE WALLS By Wendy Lowry abridged from an article by Robert Wuchatsch The City of Whittlesea adopted in 1991 a Heritage study that saw some of the drystone walls protected under the City’s planning scheme. However much greater effort is required to identify and record our heritage walls, especially in an area where increasing residential development is seeing many of...

Categories Articles - Essays

CHEERS AND BEERS

CHEERS AND BEERS by Wendy Lowry and John Waghorn The origins of Pubs and Hotels are often a forgotten aspect of local History. It seems strange because the hotel is looked upon as a hub venue in any town. People congregate there to gossip, to bet and certainly to relax and tell stories. The City of Whittlesea has many old...

Categories Articles - Essays

DONNYBROOK CEMETERY

Part of the Whittlesea Cultural and Heritage Program saw a tour of the Donnybrook Cemetery which was conducted  and led by Historian David Weatherill. On the 10th September 1857 a request was made to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Victoria for land to be set aside for a proposed Cemetery at Donnybrook. Following this request and a favourable response from...

Categories Articles - Essays

CASTLE HILL FARM

The Castle Hill farm was originally owned by John Bear who had bought the land on the 24th November 1842, under a “Deed of Grant Purchase”. Section 20, Parish of Yan Yean, County of Bourke, lot 52 consisted of approximately 932 acres. John Bear died in 1851 and in 1855 John’s son, Thomas Hutchings Bear entered an indenture under which...

Categories Articles - Essays

CARETAKER’S HOUSE AT YAN YEAN RESERVOIR

CARETAKER’S HOUSE AT YAN YEAN by Lindsay Mann This article intends using existing Documentation to discover when the brick section of the Caretaker’s House at Yan yean Reservoir was built and occupied. Meredith Gould in her 1991 Whittlesea heritage Study speculated that the oldest or masonry section of the building known as the Caretaker’s Cottage may have been designed by...

Categories Articles - Essays

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  • Yan Yean Reservoir

    The Yan Yean Reservoir is the oldest water supply for the city of Melbourne. Work began in 1853 at the height of the gold rush, and it took four years to construct at a cost of £750,000.

    At the time of its completion in 1857 it was the largest artificial reservoir in the world.

    >>Read More

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