On this day – June 19 1841. Society member, Daryl Wight has selected these two extracts from the pages of The Geelong Advertiser from June 19, 1841 . They give the reader a glimpse into the concerns of the day and clues to hardships ensured. The Geelong Advertiser was worried about the weather and had immediate concerns with the wet weather and the challenges that the heavy rain might have on the Breakwater. They also …

BARWON BANK In 2021 the then sale of the 1850s house, ‘Barwon Bank’, in Newtown, overlooking the Barwon River, piqued my interest in both its first owner and also its architect. I already had a fair bit of material on J.A. Gregory, a Geelong solicitor, but T.R. Yabsley, the architect, was new to me. ‘Barwon Bank’, at 35-43 Riversdale Road, Newtown, was recently sold after a three decades’ rescue and renovation, and extensions to the …

Mr Grove’s Academy Daryl Wight has researched the life of one of the founder of one of Geelong’s early schools. The schoolmaster, Edmund Deane Grove, was a man of some academic promise but his endeavours in life were not met with much success and his life reads very much like a cautionary tale. Schoolmaster Edmund Deane Grove arrived in Geelong on 12 June 1848 aboard the cutter, Vansittart, from Hobart Town.[1]  Within a few months, Grove, …

SOME WESTERN DISTRICT GENTLEMEN’S CLUBS In June 2022 the Investigator published this article by member, archivist and author, Norm Houghton. Norm had surveyed the history of a number of gentlemen’s clubs in his talk to the Society in 2019 and this article is an edited version of that address. Geelong has its Geelong Club, founded in 1859 as a Gentlemen’s Club. It was originally based largely on Western District wool and Geelong business connections to …

Woodstock – an early house in Chilwell In June 2022 the Investigator published this article by Member and family historian, Carollyn Williams. She writes about Woodstock House – a landmark in early Chilwell. She is descended from one of the property’s owners. The house called Woodstock stood on the south corner of Latrobe Terrace and Sharp Street, Chilwell. The original block ran from Sharp Street to Marshall Street (named for the house’s first owner). The …

THE STRANDING OF THE S.S. BANCOORA In June of 2022 the Investigator published this article by Brian Latter. Brian is a member and recent contributor to the magazine on the search for Benito Bonito’s buried treasure, and here he has another sea-faring story to share. There are many shipwrecks along the Victorian coast, in the Geelong region and, particularly, at the Heads and along the South-west coast. However a stranding is a different ‘kettle of …

Sydney investor, briefly owner of Osborne House By Daryl Wight Andrew Sutherland Low (1831-94), was a Sydney factory owner, mining investor and real estate developer, who owned Osborne House, Geelong, for a brief period in the 1880s. He was born in Golspie, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, son of John Low, merchant, and his wife Margaret Sutherland. He is said to have arrived in Melbourne around the time gold was discovered and presumably tried his luck on the …

Transcribed and edited by Daryl Wight This letter is a rare example of a female correspondent writing about squatting life in early Victoria. Unsentimental in tone, Mary Jane Muirhead, wife of squatter, Robert Muirhead, describes day-to-day pastoral life ‘miles from anywhere’ and her efforts to domesticate the run’s home station. She also shares family news, including the death of a new-born son, and enquires about news from ‘Home’. Given the Muirhead family’s later connection with …

of Yarram Yarram and Osborne House By Daryl Wight Robert Muirhead (1813? – 1862), shepherd and squatter, was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, son of John Muirhead. He was already ‘accustomed … to the management of sheep’ when he boarded the ship Rajah, at Leith, in April 1838, for the long journey to Australia. The ship arrived in Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, on 22 August 1838. Robert’s colonial hopes were quickly realised when he was contracted …

Did you know that Queenscliff had a Grammar School in the 1860s? It was certainly operating in 1864 when an advertisement in the Geelong Advertiser announced that the Queenscliff Grammar School would be re-opened after the Christmas vacation on the 16th of January [1865]. The school was run by William Behan, who had attended the University College, London. He subsequently was an Assistant Master at the University College School – a secondary school and a …

Image of Steiglitz SLV Shepherd, R., 1825-1885, artist. Date 1857 The Wesleyans Arrive in Stieglitz In 1865, Steiglitz was in the midst of its latest gold rush. The locality was home to over 2,000 inhabitants (predominantly male), many mining claims, at least five hotels, a Court-house, a Public Library and Mechanics’ Institute, a Manchester Unity Lodge and a cricket team. There was a school, formerly run by the Church of England. The school-room was also …

Image of Steiglitz SLV Shepherd, R., 1825-1885, artist. Date 1857 Thomas Allen Sidders The Geelong Chronicle By Daryl Wight This is an edited version of an address to the Geelong Historical Society given by the author in November 2019. It was published in the Investigator in September 2021. The first issue of the Geelong Chronicle newspaper hit the streets of Geelong on 23 March 1861. The newspaper was officially registered in Melbourne just a few …