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...
James Duffy was born in 1857 in Richmond. He married his wife Margaret Owen in Whittlesea in 1885. They had a family of ten children and were early pioneers in the Whittlesea district. James died there in 1943.
John Daniel John Daniel was born in 1836 at Cruden in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He arrived in Melbourne in 1858. He for worked in farming at Kangaroo Ground, then went to Baw Baw diggings in Gippsland where he didn’t succeed, as he returned 2 months later to Melbourne and started farming with a Mr. Donaldson near the city. He was a...
Charles Cookson was the Headmaster of the Denominational School in Whittlesea around the 1860’s. His wife Ellen was the sewing mistress.
Charles Clancy married a Miss L Beney in 1911 at the Church of England in Whittlesea. They were active members of the Whittlesea Mechanics Institute.
John Castles was born in Prahran in 1852. He learned the blacksmithing trade after which he went to Whittlesea and worked for Mr Whyte. He married his daughter Kate.
Arthur Callender was born in Hamilton in 1854 and was the eldest son of William and Harriet’s six children. He was married in Whittlesea in 1877 to a Caroline Morley and lived at Scrubby Creek.
James Bourke was born in 1835 in County Clare and married in 1860 a Katherine Mason who was born in 1836 in Tipperary Ireland. They lived in Whittlesea and raised their family. James died in 1907 in Yan Yean.
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.