Have you noticed the clock on the wall of the Whittlesea Post Office? Have you wondered where did it come from and what is the story of this old clock? Here is my story. I was made by Thomas Gaunt who was born in 1829, and arrived in Melbourne in 1852. By 1858 he had established his business as a...
Britain’s First Olympic Champion who later came to live in Whittlesea. 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 wife Anne Mason. Gilbert who was descended...
An old brick house known as “Tarawera” still stands in Lime Street Whittlesea. It was erected about 1861. It was not built by James Morris as ascribed in some histories, as James never owned the land. His son, Frederick James Morris, born in 1864 did however live in “Tarawera” for over forty years.The house consists of six rooms, veranda on...
One of our newer Estates, Laurimar, has a street called Lambrigg Place. I soon found out that Lambrigg was the name of a Parish in Westmoreland, England, but what was the Australian connection? A search through the National Archives database revealed that Lambrigg was the name of William James FARRER’s property. FARRER was the man who was interested in cross...
Previously called Harvest Home Lane this road is named after the old Harvest Home Hotel. A bluestone hotel of five rooms which stood facing High Street at the corner of Harvest Home Lane. It was built in 1869 by Henry LUDEMAN , a German immigrant who had arrived in Victoria in 1854 and in 1868 had bought the ten acres of...
At the very south-west corner of the City of Whittlesea, close to Mahoneys Road and the Merri Creek, is a small street called “Trawalla Avenue”It is in an industrial area (in fact it runs off Industrial Avenue) and includes the Boral Brick Company, Pantalica Cheese Co, Bertocchi Smallgoods and five Monumental Stonemasons. Trawalla Avenue in the 1960’s gave access to...
The street was named after (and for) a Mr Arthur BROWNHILL who was born in 1900 and who served in World War 1. His parents were Charles Edward BROWNHILL and Eliza MORSLEY who lived on Lots 6 to 9 of the Thomastown Small Holdings. Brownhill Street was named after Arthur’s father and his elder brother Edward, who also served in...
Salicki Avenue Epping was perhaps one of our first multicultural Street names. It was named after SIMON SALICKI, a Polish Jew who left Poland in 1939 and arrived in Melbourne later that year. By 1947 Simon owned and operated a dairy farm just north of Childs Road and which straddled High Street. A letter received from his daughter Jenny BUCH...
The south end of Dalton Road follows the old “Yan Yean Pipe Track” and for many years was just a bush track. In 1931 the adjacent area was sub-divided and the developers requested the Whittlesea Council to bestow a name on it. The Council took so long to decide on a name that the Developers submitted three names- James, McCormack...
This is a good example of how much an area’s history can be encapsulated in a street name. Mill Park Drive has no start and no finish; it is a CIRCULAR ROAD. It in fact follows the outline of the original training track of the Mill Park Property. Mill Park was used, mainly by the MILLER family to train racehorses...