A collection of articles and essays written by members concerning the history of Whittlesea and surrounds.
Further reading on the City of Whittlesea’s local history:
Chinese Settlement in the Whittlesea Shire Arthur Yong
Education at Whittlesea 1848-1978 J W Payne
Historic Views of the City of Whittlesea. Robert Wuchatsch & Gwen Hawke (*)(#)
Historic Buildings of the Whittlesea Shire Robert Wuchatsch & John Waghorn
Mayfield Presbyterian Church, Mernda. Richard Ely (#)
Nature’s Plenty. Michael Jones (#)
Reminiscences of Whittlesea E M Duffy
The English Church at Whittlesea J W Payne
The Plenty J W Payne
The Plenty Bushrangers of 1842: the first Europeans hanged in Victoria. Lindsay Mann (*)(#)
The Whittlesea Railway Robert Aquilina
Wooden Rails to Kinglake and Flowerdale R Alger
Whittlesea Township Heritage Walk. Angela Roper (*)(#)
Yan Yean: A History Dianne Edwards
(*) available for purchase through the Whittlesea Historical Society, refer to Publications page of this website.
(#) available for purchase at Whittlesea Courthouse Visitor Information Centre, cnr Beech & Church Sts, Whittlesea.
Note: many of these titles are available at the Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Mill Park. >>Visit web site
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...
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 James Blackburn. This is entirely...
On the 13th June 1863 a meeting took place in the school house for the purpose of electing trustees for the land, donated by prominent local resident Thomas Wills Esq. for the building of an Anglican Church. The Chairman of this meeting was another respected resident Mr George Sherwin Esq. Within three months they had raised 230 and an architect...
Heritage Victoria has undertaken yet another excavation site along the Plenty River and within the Plenty Gorge Park. It stemmed from historical investigations carried out as part of the Mernda Rail Extension. This dig site however was to solve the mystery of the whereabouts of the original Bridge Inn Hotel which was one of the earliest buildings constructed outside Melbourne ...
In 2015, St Peter’s Catholic Church, Epping celebrated its 150 year old birthday. The Foundation stone of the Church was laid by Bishop Gould on the 5th November 1865. The actual opening was on 13th January 1867. It is believed to be the second oldest Victorian Catholic Church outside inner Melbourne, after Keilor. This is an early photo, possibly around...