Category: Family Surname Briefs

CARETAKER’S HOUSE AT YAN YEAN RESERVOIR
By Lindsay Mann

Front view of the present day “Caretaker’s House” or in 1854 the “Engineer’s House”

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 James Blackburn.

This is entirely possible as existing documentation held at the Public Records Office of Victoria shows. A letter dated 9th January 1854, from the Commissioner’s of Sewerage and Water Supply to the Colonial Secretary, notifies him of the Commissioner’s appointment of James Blackburn as its Consultant Engineer, at a salary of 300 Pounds p.a. which was to date from 19th October 1853, thereby proving that Blackburn was employed by the Commissioner almost five months before his death on 3rd March 1854.

Another contemporary document shows that the “cottage” for the Resident Engineer and Keeper had been built and paid for at the contract price of ₤973.0.0 by the 30th September 1854. The weatherboard extension is believed to have been added in about 1860 to make it a suitable residence for a Caretaker and his family.

An engineer named Charles J Taylor was employed by the Commission as an assistant engineer with a salary of ₤350 p.a. from 21st June 1853. As to when the house was first occupied, a document dated 25th July 1854, prepared by the Commission for the Colonial secretary and dealing with the half year ending 30 June 1854, states that the above mentioned Charles Taylor had been appointed Resident Engineer at Yan Yean at a salary of ₤550 dating from 9th June 1854.

I would suggest that Taylor was actually on a salary of ₤600 p.a. (the same as most of the Assistant Engineers) but was charged ₤50 per annum as rent for use of the house as was the practice of the Commission.

Therefore it is obvious that the first stage of this building was intended for his use, and these facts clearly indicate that stage one of this residence was completed and first occupied by Taylor on or about 9th June 1854.

BOADLE Jonathan

Jonathan Boadle leased land in Bundoora in the 1860’s and named his property Prospect Hill and later to Bundoora Park. He owned a blacksmith shop in Bundoora and a flour mill in Whittlesea He died tragically in 1870 while rounding stock.

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BLAIR Charles

Charles Blair was born in Scotland in 1836. He married in 1857 Ann Robb. They travelled to Melbourne aboard the “Annie Wilson” arriving in 1859. They settled and lived in Upper Plenty and Glenvale with their 13 children.

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BEBB Stephen

Stephen Bebb and his wife Elizabeth both were born in Montgomeryshire, Wales. They were married in St James Church Melbourne in August 1856. They from Kyneton to Whittlesea in the 1870’s where they became shopkeepers.

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ARMSTRONG Robert

Robert Armstrong married his wife Mary Ann Robinson in July 1853 in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. They sailed to Melbourne from Liverpool on board the “Electra”, arriving in 1856. They settled in Whittlesea and raised their family. He died in 1863.

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ANDREW James

James Andrew was born in 1827 in Devonshire. He married a Mary Heal in 1850. They sailed for Melbourne on the “Lady McNaughton” but Mary died on the voyage. He married an Anna Maria Webb at St Peter’s Church Melbourne in 1852. They lived at his Darebin Creek property and later purchased farms in Whittlesea, one being named “Woolsery”.

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