30 September, 2013

Branching out - Moranghurk

As mentioned in a recent post, I attended a book launch and plaque-unveiling at Moranghurk near Lethbridge a couple of weeks ago. I subsequently posted a little about the history of soldier settlement in the area through which the Barwon and its tributaries run. Because the two topics are so intertwined in local history, this then got me thinking about the squatters who were the first Europeans to live in the area. That then resulted in yesterday's rather lengthy post on the subject of the local "squattocracy".
Now, I intend to have a look at some of the estates mentioned in yesterday's post and hopefully over time this will build up a handy picture of the historic properties along the banks of the three rivers and beyond, showing what they were and what they have become today. Some are already the subject of previous posts so for the moment I will concentrate on some of the others.
First:

Moranghurk

The front gate
Whilst the history of Moranghurk as a squatting run and then as an estate only dates back to 1840, the name itself is much older. The property name was originally spelt Moranghourke but both spellings are believed to be derivatives of the Wathaurong word Murrangurk. One meaning given for the word is to describe someone returned from the grave and was the name given to the escaped convict William Buckley who was discovered by the Barrabool tribe. A slightly different version tells that Buckley was found at the grave of a famous warrior of that name and, not having seen a white man before, he was thought by the Wathaurong to be the reincarnation their hero. Why the name was chosen for the property is not clear.
Unlike many of the estates in the area, Moranghurk has always been in the hands of a partnership or a family. The first selection of 18,00 acres was taken up in 1840 by the Scottish settlers William Taylor and Dugald McPherson who held it until 1846. The property included land along both sides of the Moorabool River. To the west it was bounded by the Native Creek No 1 Estate, at that time occupied by Robert Sutherland for the Clyde Company, to the north by John McLeod's Bohoneyghurk and to the south by the Clyde Company's Tall Tree Estate . East of the Moorabool, Moranghurk shared a boundary with Durdiwarrah belonging to the Steiglitz family and a small section of its south eastern perimeter with the Anakie Estate of Frederick Griffin.
View south down the Moorabool Valley from Moranghurk.
The next to takes up the lease was Peter Sharp in 1846 who transferred it to his brother William in 1848. By 1849 the Squatters' Directory of that year showed the estate as 18,333 acres held by William Sharp.
In the earliest days, Taylor and McPherson built a small cottage on the property made of mud and stone. At some point in the 1840s the present house was constructed, possibly to a design by Thomas Albin Nuttal. Whether it was Taylor and McPherson who had the house built or the Sharps is unclear.
Moranghurk homestead
In 1853 Andrew Love (son of the Presbyterian minister) took over the leasehold before mortgaging the estate to one William Ross in 1854, however Love's subsequent insolvency saw the property once again return to William Sharp in 1856 who then sold the lease to John Matheson in 1857. This period saw a significant amount of legal wrangling with Ross mounting actions against various people including Love.


This land across the Moorabool Valley would originally have been part of the
Moranghurk Estate
Over the ensuing decades, Matheson consolidated his holdings. In 1870, the squatting licence for the estate was cancelled. Matheson took up the pre-emptive right to about 5,000 acres of the original run, but had to relinquish the land east of the Moorabool as pressure from disenchanted gold diggers on the Stieglitz side of the river pushed for farmland of their own. At some point he acquired the Native Hut No 1 Estate to the west as well as 3,000 acres of the Woodbourne No 2 Estate to the north (including the homestead - the subject of a subsequent post). Presumably prior to 1870 - his holdings totalled 26,000 acres, however ultimately he held around 19,000 acres of land, possibly including some reclaimed portions of the original estate west of the river.
The Moorabool Valley and Moranghurk land from the front lawn
During his time Matheson increased the stock on the run and made significant improvements. In 1862 he was running 8,943 head of sheep but by the time of his death in 1882 this had increased to 19,945.
In the early squatting days, property boundaries were often determined by natural features such as creeks and rivers, or by dirt ditches, dug to mark the line. By 1879 he had fenced the run and divided it into paddocks with a combination of stone, brush and post and rail fences.

Several of the Cyprus and a small bridge along the Moranghurk driveway
Between 1873 and 1875, Matheson turned his attention to the house and buildings, extending the former and building a number of outbuildings including shearers' quarters, woolshed, stables and dairy. Other buildings were also constructed during the 1860s. Ninety-seven of the Cyprus trees which line lengthy driveway were planted in 1879.
The house and gardens
Following his death in 1882, Matheson was succeeded by his son John Matheson Jnr. The younger John however died in 1893 at the age of 37, leaving two young sons. So for the next 18 years, the estate was run by his trustees who continued to make improvements including several further outbuildings until, in 1912 - having completed his education at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge - John Lee Matheson and his younger brother Norman McDonald Matheson returned to the property to live along with John L's wife Lynette. They were the first generation of the family to live permanently on the estate.
They suffered a setback not long after taking control of the property however, when a grassfire which was believed to have started when a man at the Larundel Estate near Elaine threw out a pan of hot ashes, burnt through several miles of their fencing, consumed a significant amount of pasture and killed a large number of sheep. None the less, they were able to make a success of the estate and their tenure saw a number of further improvements with a focus on fine quality Merino production. This youngest generation of Mathesons were also responsible for building the gate lodge, the garage, the men's quarters and also an ornate pump house on the river. All this activity was interrupted by a period of English service during the First World War for John during which Norman managed the estate.
The gate lodge at Moranghurk
They were however, the last generation of the family to own it. John died childless in 1953 and the property passed to his brother Norman. By this time however, it was much reduced as the Soldier Settlement Commission had resumed around 12,000 acres of Moranghurk land in 1952 - the distribution of which is the topic of the recent publication Moranghurk, soldier settlement at Meredith: this is their story compiled by Margaret Cooper.
The garage
Like his contemporary Janet Biddlecombe at Golf Hill, John L is believed to have been unhappy with the break up of the estate. Following John's death, Norman had hoped to run a model stud farm on much of the remaining land. The government however, were not prepared to cede more than the  homestead block of 2,183 acres, having already claimed the remaining acreage.
Norman felt he needed at least 5,000 acres to make the project work, so as a result he sold the last of the land along with the house to the Commission who then auctioned it to George "Dudley" Erwin and Jack East, mates from the air force.
Erwin and East were not however, long term occupants and changed little on the property. Erwin went into politics and the property was once again sold, this time in 1957 to Isaac Peter Ralton Scott. Like the Mathesons before him, Scott was keen to improve the property. In addition to another round of alterations to the house - including the demolition of a stone section of the building - land usage began to change. Paddocks were cleared, crops sewn and pastures improved. From being exclusively a grazing run, it now moved towards mixed farming producing not only sheep but cattle, grain and a variety of other crops.
The garden today with glimpses of the valley beyond
Isaac was helped on the property by his son Roger, however upon Isaac's death, the property once again changed hands. This time in about 1988 it was sold to the current owners Ross and Liz Wilkie who have done much to restore the garden and who now operate the former "men's quarters" (styled the shearer's quarters) as a group accommodation facility.
Additional details concerning the history of the property can also be found in Eric A. McGillivray's book The heritage of Lethbridge.

29 September, 2013

Squattocracy - life on the run!

The first Europeans to settle on the plains surrounding the Barwon River and its tributaries were squatters and many of their names would still be familiar to us today: names such as Armytage, Roadknight, Russell, Swanston, Austin, Learmonth, Fisher, Bell, Mercer and Morrison to name a few.
And they are with us still! Street signs from the
suburbs of Geelong, Geelong West, Manifold
Heights, Belmont  Newtown and Corio.
They can be found in the names of our streets, parks and suburbs and towns. In addition to the above street names (and a few besides such as Highett Road, Highton and Clyde Road Bannockburn, McLeod and Read Streets, Meredith), the suburbs of Manifold Heights, Newcomb, Thomson, Highton, and the towns of Drysdale, Batesford, Bells Beach, Bellbrae, Stieglitz, Pollocksford and Sutherlands Creek are all named for original squatters in the district as are Point Roadknight near Anglesea, Cowies Creek, Austin Park, Stead Park and then of course, Fyansford - named for Captain Foster Fyans who arrived in the district as police magistrate at the request of these squatters and himself tried his hand as a squatter in the coming years.
These first settlers arrived in the region in 1836 following John Batman, keen to find pasturage for their stock. With this in mind, various groups set out to investigate the area - in particular the explorer and surveyor John Helder Wedge and the ill-fated Hesse and Gellibrand. From early 1836, stock was landed at Williamstown, Point Henry and Indented Head and left in the care of shepherds, whilst the squatters made their own explorative journeys in search of suitable runs. At the same time, some travelled overland with their flocks from New South Wales.
Amongst the very earliest settlers were representatives of the Derwent Company. Formed from the remains of John Batman's Port Phillip Association they were a group of Tasmanian settlers who had set out in 1835 to acquire land in the Port Phillip district from the indigenous occupants. Despite the government in New South Wales declaring Batman's transaction with the Wurundjeri people invalid, they came anyway.
By the late 1830s the Derwent Co. held 26,000 acres of land extending across the "Portland Bay" region including the Barwon, Moorabool and Leigh Rivers. Its members included Captain Charles Swanston, Major William Drumond Mercer and his son George Duncan Mercer, Thomas Learmonth, George Armytage and David Fisher.
"Barwon Falls" 1848 as painted by Charles Norton, artist, civil servant and
squatter on the Barwon River. Image held by the State Library of Victoria
Another group of investors formed the Clyde Co. which was established in 1838 by seven Scottish investors. They selected land along the Leigh and Moorabool Rivers, which was managed first by Philip Russell and then by his half brother George who eventually settled at Golf Hill near The Leigh (later Shelford).
George Russell, 1852. Pioneer, settler and manager of the Clyde
Company. Image held by the Victorian State Library
In addition to the big companies, individual families such as the Austins of Barwon Park, established large holdings on the Barwon whilst properties such as Moranghurk and Borhoneyghurk on the Moorabool and Narmbool on the Leigh were established by individuals or partnerships.
By 1842 however, the Derwent Co. was being wound up, with various founding members purchasing leases in their own right. The Clyde Co. survived until 1857/1858 at which time George Russell bought the freehold of Golf Hill, an area of 8,500 acres which he eventually expanded to 28,000 acres.
Today, through the foresight of Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe, a record remains which details many of these early settlers and their holdings. During his governorship on 29th July, 1853, La Trobe wrote to Victoria's pioneering settlers asking them if they could in turn reply to him, describing what they remembered of the dates and places in which they and their contemporaries had settled in the 1830s. His request generated some 58 replies from across the newly-declared colony - several of them dealing with settlement along the Barwon, Moorabool and Leigh Rivers - they were eventually compiled by Thomas Francis Bride and published in 1898 titled: Letters from Victorian pioneers: being a series of papers on the early occupation of the colony, the aborigines etc.
Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe. Photo held by
Ballarat Heritage Services

From this and other sources, including the various newspapers of the day and government gazettes it is possible to build a fairly good picture of who these pioneering settlers were and where they held their various squatting runs.
The following table - whilst no doubt incomplete - shows who many of the initial landholders were and when they took up their runs. In each case I have attempted to identify the original occupant, however in some cases there may have been an earlier squatter on the land whom I can't identify through online records. If I find further information I will update accordingly.
As time has progressed, it has seemed appropriate to add some early properties to the list below which were not original squatting runs, but were rather the next generation of estates, established once land was opened up for sale. Examples include the Hope brothers at 'Darriwill' and 'Lynnburn' as well as Dr John Learmonth at 'Lawrence Park' all on the lower reaches of the Moorabool River.

Barwon River
Caroline Newcombe and Anne Drysdale
1841
Geelong
Derwent Co. (David Fisher)
1837
Kardinia
Dr Alexander Thomson
1837
Highton
John Highett
1837
Barrabool Hills
John Charles Darke
c1837
Roadknights
1836
Pollocksford
Captain Pollock
1836
Murgheboluc Flat
Yuilles
1836
Weatherboard
Derwent Co (David Fisher)
1837
(Toolun, St Leonards & Waterloo Plains)
Thomas Austin and Brothers
1837
Henry Hopkins
1837
Derwent Co (Thomas Armytage)
1836
Yan Yan Gurt*
Roadknights
1838
Deans Marsh*
Roadknights
1848
Wesleyan Church
(Rev Francis Tuckfield)
Buntingdale Mission Station
August 1839
Paraparap
Frederick Dewing
1838
Gerangemete
Roadknights
1839
Ricketts
Thomas Rickett
<September 1837
River Station
Roadknights
1840
William Harding (with John Highett)
1837
Murdeduke (originally part of Mt Hesse)
John Highett (with William Harding)
1837
St Stephen
John Stephens
<1841
Long Water Hole/Barrunah Plains*
Derwent Co. (James Austin)
1837
Warrambine*
Derwent Co. (Prentice)
<1842
Moorabool River
John Anthony Cowie & David Stead
March 1836
George & Robert Hope
1846
Batesford
Alfred & John Bates
1837
Manifold’s Ford (aka Dog Rocks/Batesford)
Thomas & Peter Manifold
1836
Thomas and John Learmonth
1839
Sutherland’s Creek*
Joseph Sutherland
1836
George, James & Robert Hope
1846
Russell's Bridge
Clyde Co. (George Russell)
1836
William Taylor & Dugald McPherson
1840
Robert von Stieglitz
March/April 1838
John Norman McLeod
1837
Blakeney & George Airey
1840
John Norman McLeod
October 1837
John Wallace
1838
Bungal
George Egerton
1838?
John Anthony Cowie & David Stead
1838
David Stead
1838
Hunterston
William Patterson?
1840s
Peerewerrh
Fairbairn & Gardner
<1849
Borambeta
Charles & Joseph Bradshaw?
<1849
Bolwarra
James Clarke?
1837?
Ballan
Robert William Stieglitz
1838
Leigh/Yarrowee River
Weatherboard
Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)
April 1837
(Native Creek No. 1)*
Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)
April 1837
(Native Creek No. 2) (later Woolbrook)*
Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)
1837
(including Upper Leigh & Tall Tree Creek Stations)
Clyde Co (George Russell)
1839
(later Barwonleigh)
Derwent Co. (Thomas & Somerville Learmonth)
April 1837
Alexander, Charles & John Wilson
1844
Cargerie
George Frederick Read Jnr
January 1838
Mount Mercer
Derwent Co. (David Fisher)
March 1838
Mount Mercer Cattle Station
Derwent Co. (Major William Drummond Mercer)
1838?
Hugh Niven
January 1839
Warraneep
Levitt brothers and one other
1840
Waverley Park (later Bonshaw)
Henry Anderson
1838
Thomas & Sommerville Learmonth
1838
Archibald B & WC Yuille
February 1838
*These properties whilst not lying directly on any of the three rivers, were an integral part of the district and each did have at least one creek which flowed to either the Barwon or the Moorabool.
It is worth remembering also that runs often changed hands repeatedly (sometimes within a matter of months) and areas of land could be transferred in part or wholly between settlers meaning that the boundaries of properties shifted over time as squatters expanded or consolidated their holdings, forming and dissolving partnerships on a regular basis.
During the 1850s and 60s, following the dispersal of the Clyde and Derwent Companies, leases changed hands and the pre-emptive rights to various properties were purchased. The era of the squatter had well and truly reached the three rivers.