A Ramble Along the Barwon

In my previous post I looked at the Geelong identity who was William Stitt Jenkins. From 1853 to 1876, the Poet of the Pivot, the Bard of the Barwon or even the Water Poet as he was variously called wrote about anything which caught his attention; politics, religion, teetotalism - especially that. Another subject dear to his heart was water; access to it, the quality of it, the lack of it, the health benefits of it, the dangers of it, even the pleasure of living and walking by it.
The poem below was published in the Geelong Advertiser of 23rd October, 1861 and gives an interesting insight into Jenkins' life, his home, his opinions and his view of the Barwon River. On the latter, he was well positioned to comment. By March, 1861 Jenkins and his family were living in Noble Street on Newtown Hill, a location which commanded some of the best views in Geelong.
According to a retrospective published in the Geelong Advertiser (21st July, 1928), there were only three houses on the south side of Noble St between Shannon Ave (then known as the West Melbourne Rd) and the river when Jenkins lived there. One was the historic 'Chesterfield' (221 Noble Street today), next was Stitt Jenkins' house - a five roomed cottage on a one acre block - and the last was a bigger home closer to the river at the end of the street.
From his doorstep, Jenkins could see the Barwon Valley laid out below him and he would often sit on a large, flat rock which he had positioned in front of his house. On the rock - unsurprisingly - he had inscribed a line or two of verse which invited passersby to have a rest and enjoy the view. Taking inspiration from the scenery spread out before him, Jenkins would also sit there to write his many poems and letters. The poem below may well have been one.

A RAMBLE

A week of anxious care is o'er,

I reach again my cottage door,

And free am I to work or play

This afternoon of Saturday.

Say, shall I in the garden dig,

Or ride? Alas! I have no gig;

Nor horse, nor ass, nor yet a cow!

Quite poor enough, you must allow.

Yet, not so poor; I have a wife

To cheer and comfort me through life.

And children more than two or three.

The childless, rich may envy me.

And then behold my humble cot,

Perched on a sweet romantic spot,

With seat of wood and one of stone,

There rest ye by the rhymer's home.

Part of Euguene von Guerard's painting "View of Geelong" 1856, showing the
site  of Jenkins' cottage, yet to be built. I believe "Chesterfield" is to the right of
 the bright green field. Jenkins' cottage would have stood somewhere to its left.
Original painting held by the Geelong Art Gallery

Lo. There the faithful wall-flower blows;

The China moss and monthly rose,

The proud geranium, ivy old,

The lily and the marigold,

The honeysuckle, sweet is there,

The fragrant wattle scents the air,

And groves of green and azure sky

Together joint to charm the eye.

I see afar the glimmering sail

Of thy white mill, O, Riversdale,

And mill, and vale, and stream, and lake,

One bright harmonious picture make.

I hear the hum of busy bee,

The magpie chatters on the tree,

The eaglehawk is soaring high,

He wants my chickens, so do I.

Riversdale Flour Mill on the Barwon at Chilwell, 1866. Image taken by
John Norton, held by the State Library of Victoria

But leave the chickens and our home,

And come with me awhile to roam

Over the hills and far away,

To spend, in peace, our holiday.

Leave we awhile the cares of life,

Escape from envy's jealous strife,

Let wrangling men say what they will,

It harms me not on this green hill.

Free from the strife and dust of town,

By river side we wander down,

Then cross the bridge and soon, I wean,

Enter the "Garden of the Queen"--

A lovely spot where waters meet.

Sure Paradise was ne'er more sweet.

See flower-decked sod and glittering pool

Where Barwon joins with Moorabool.

Queen's Park, 1866, showing Queen's Park Bridge and looking towards the
confluence of the Barwon and Moorabool Rivers. Image held by the State
Library of Victoria

See Fyansford in beauty lies,

See hills on hills majestic rise,

And tow'ring clouds together throng

To crown thee verdant Buninyong,

Survey awhile the orphans' home!

Once more by river side we roam,

The gallant boats glide swiftly by,

And all around is peace and joy.

The Protestant Orphanage, Herne Hill c1873. Image taken by Thomas J.
Washbourne, held by the State Library of Victoria

Blow balmy breezes through the dell,

Still tinkle thou melodious bell,

Flutter ye insects 'mid the grass,

Aglow, O sun, o'er mountain pass.

Ye herds, your lowing cattle bring,

Ye rural maidens sweetly sing,

And dance ye children on the green,

And sight more glorious ne'er was seen.

But, lo, what doleful sights are these?

What Goth or Hun hath felled these trees,

And borne the timber clear away

On some unhappy bullock dray?

See, here a forest monarch stood!

What Vandal hand has fired the wood

What Lord Tom Noddy has been here

Some brainless dolt, to all is clear.

View across Queen's Park towards Newtown Hill, 1878, by Fred Kruger
showing the extent of deforestation. Image held by the National Gallery of
Victoria, a gift of  Mrs Beryl M Curl, 1979

But come away, and let it pass

(Meanwhile I'll write him down an ass)

And let us hide from mortal eye,

Where Buckley's falls leap foaming by.

Behold those most fantastic trees,

Where sighs the mournful evening breeze,

How drear those huge mis-shapen rocks,

Worn by the torrents ceaseless shocks.

A sketch made c1855 by artist Eugene von Guerard from Buckley Falls
again looking back towards Queen's Park and Newtown Hill. Image
held by the State Library of New South Wales

Which boils and bounds from shore to shore,

And rushes on for evermore.

What careth the wild mountain stream

for Lord or Bishop, King or Queen?

The black man came and passed away

Before the white man's conquering sway.

When both are to oblivion gone

The river shall go rolling on.

Why start you now, and trembling shake?

You say you fear some awful snake;

Ah, fear it not, but sit you down,

The snakes, dear friend, are gone to town.

There they in holes and corners lurk

To do their most unholy work,

And spit their venom, when they can,

On those who serve ungrateful man.

But see, the fast declining day

Warns us, my friend, to best away!

The pelicans go shrieking by,

And all things tell that night is nigh.

The dragon flies with ceaseless hum,

With merry crickets singing come.

And, see, along you ancient log,

To serenade us, comes the frog.

Moonrise over the Bunyip Pool and Buckley Falls, November 2012

The water-rat peeps from his hole,

And see the bat and miner mole;

And now from every rock and tree

Burst forth the night's wild melody.

The laughing jackass hoarsely brays--

"The man that has seen better days,"

The owl exclaims "too-whit--too-who,"

And says--poor sinners, off you go."

Alas, how dark and drear,--but, soon

Appears the ever glorious moon.

And gilds each hill and vale with light.

And reigns the radiant queen of night,

While in the vault of heaven on high

Bright hosts of stars now deck the sky.

Great Lord, who ruleth night and day,

From this green sod to Thee we pray.

We reach the bridge, we cross the stream,

Again the rhymer's home is seen:

There bathed in moonlight, see it stand,

An emblem of the happy land.

Our ramble o'er, within we jog,

The kettle singeth on the hob.

Rejoice with us o'er day well sped.

Good night--we now are off to bed.

WILLIAM STITT JENKINS

Geelong Advertiser, 23rd October, 1861

In addition to observing the industries and sights along the Barwon, Jenkins also makes mention of the Saturday half holiday which he had been instrumental in establishing in Geelong. In referencing snakes, he might well have been alluding to his - probably fairly numerous - detractors whom I suspect found his methods of campaigning on local issues somewhat tiresome.
Regardless of Jenkins' personal crusades and contentious public life, the Barwon was clearly a favourite location where he spent enough time to gain an understanding of not only his built surroundings but also of the flora and fauna, expressing his interest in the latter as well as his dismay at the extent of the deforestation which had occurred along the river within a mere 25 years since the arrival of European settlement.

Victoria and Albert

Seidel's farm - the subject of my last post - was not the only vineyard sketched by Eugene von Guerard during his travels in and around Geelong and the surrounding districts. During one of his stays in the area he also visited (and of course, sketched) what was, even then, one of the region's best-known vineyards: Pettavel's Victoria Vineyard.

Undated sketch of Victoria Vineyard by Eugene von Guerard looking south
west across Waurn Ponds Creek from what today would be private land to
the west of Cochrane's Rd, Waurn Ponds (click to enlarge)

David Louis Pettavel was born in 1817 at Boudry in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. He arrived in the Port Phillip district in 1842 on the Platina  and was amongst the earliest in a string of Swiss vignerons to migrate to the Geelong region in the mid-nineteenth century, encouraged to do so by Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe.
In 1842 Pettavel along with Frédéric Breguet - another Swiss immigrant - established the earliest vineyard on the Barwon River at Pollocksford. As foreign citizens, they could not purchase their own land, instead leasing 25 acres from squatters William Haines and John Highett (John Tétaz, 1995, From Boudry to the Barrabool Hills: Swiss vignerons in Geelong). They called their vineyard Neuchâtel.

David Louis Pettavel

In order to overcome this obstacle to land ownership, Pettavel and Breguet took the step of becoming denizens, a process requiring them to petition the governor who in turn sought the permission of the Secretary of State in London. They were amongst only 20 in the country ever to do so before 1849 when new law allowing naturalisation rendered the process obsolete (Wegmann & Rűegger,1989, The Swiss in Australia, ).
Meanwhile, with vines planted, the first wine production and sale of grapes occurred in 1845 or 1846 according to the above sources. The partnership between Breguet and Pettavel did not last long however and by 1848 Pettavel was going it alone. On 1st March he purchased 585 acres, 3 roods of land at Waurn Ponds at a cost of £1 per acre. Today, the land Pettavel purchased is bordered by the line of Pettavel Rd to the west, Drayton's Rd to the east and Reservoir Rd to the south, running all the way to Waurn Ponds creek on its northern boundary. He named his property Victoria Vineyard.

Looking south west across Waurn Ponds Creek from Cochrane's Rd to the
north-facing slopes of David Pettavel's land

Some years after its establishment, an article in The Age, 18th May, 1863 claimed to describe how Pettavel came to select the land on which the vineyard stood:

The circumstance which led to the formation of the Victoria Vineyard, on the Colac road, is very singular. When Monsieur Pettavel was on the road to Pollock's Ford, he camped on the ground where the Victoria vineyard now flourishes; it was at that time a dense forest. During the night he dreamt that he was planting vines on that hill, and when the partnership at Pollock's ford, was dissolved seven years afterwards, the dream was fulfilled. The solitude of the wilderness has given way to splendid vineyards, and substantial dwellings, where peace and plenty reign supreme.

Pettavel planted his vines at the northern end of his block where they were best situated to take advantage of the sun. He did not just plant his vines and hope for the best however, instead he took an experimental approach to their cultivation. A report in The Leader of 16th April, 1864 indicated that he was testing a number of different types of manure, using different spacing and arrangement of vines and experimenting with a variety of grapes. Pettavel also wrote on the subject of viticulture, sharing his accumulated knowledge on the subject with other vignerons. For the 1861 harvest, Pettavel imported a screw press from his native country to better extract the juice from his grapes.
He was also well known for his extensive use of local labour, employing many in the district, especially those who were newly-arrived from Switzerland. Of those Swiss who came to Victoria, skilled vine dressers and workers willing to fill the gap in the labour market created by the onset of the gold rush in 1851 were particularly encouraged. A number were members of the extended Pettavel family, including aunts, uncles and cousins bearing familiar names such as Tétaz, Marendaz and Barbier.
Victoria Vineyard grew to include 45 acres of vines and nearby, alongside Waurn Ponds Creek, Pettavel built the homestead where he lived with his wife Esther Keanan whom he had married in 1847. The house was an eight-roomed stone structure with dormer windows across the front and a sizeable cellar measuring around 12 metres by 9 metres located beneath it. The cellar was divided in two with one room housing the wine press and the other holding casks.
During harvesting, the vineyard employed as many as 30 men and at its height produced around 23,000 litres of wine. This was in addition to the sale of fruit - much of which was sent to the goldfields of Ballarat - and fruit trees.
By 1851 Pettavel was advertising 10,000 assorted fruit trees and vines for sale at the "Victoria Vineyard and Nursery". On the list for sale were 34 species of apples as well as pears, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, figs, mulberries and strawberries (Geelong Advertiser, 27th June, 1851). The following year, he had doubled his stock for sale (Geelong Advertiser, 4th June, 1852) and by 1854 that figure had tripled to 30,000 trees (Geelong Advertiser, 8th May, 1854).
In about 1857 he paid a visit to his homeland, no doubt taking the opportunity to acquaint himself with any advances in the techniques of wine-making. Upon his return to Victoria, he established a second vineyard, also on the Colac Rd but a few kilometres closer to Geelong. This he called the Prince Albert Vineyard.

Prince Albert Vineyard. Image taken from Wegmann & Rűegger, 1989,
The Swiss in Australia

In keeping with his policy of employing extended family members, he set up his nephew Charles Tétaz to run the Prince Albert Vineyard which grew in time to be as large as Victoria Vineyard and as he had done there, he also had a sizeable house built on the property. Tétaz had arrived in the colony in 1852 along with various other family members including his brother Henri François who died in an accident with a dray only a few years after their arrival.*
It was at the Prince Albert Vineyard that Pettavel entertained British royalty in the form of the Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria who travelled to Australia in 1867, touring the district and paying a visit to the Austins at Barwon Park where he went rabbit shooting.
Pettavel died on 22nd June, 1871 at 52 years of age. His funeral was one of the largest seen in the district at that time with both Swiss and English settlers turning out to pay their respects. The cortege travelled fro the Victoria Vineyard to Geelong's Eastern Cemetery with many joining the procession along the 14km route. According to the Geelong Advertiser of 26th June, 1871 "every corner of Moorabool-street was crowded with spectators, and the cortege reached from the outskirts of the town to the Eastern cemetery. Altogether, the remains of the deceased when they reached the cemetery, were followed by eighty-two carriages, buggies, and carts, the aristocratic carriage following the market cart, besides a large number of horsemen and visitors...the pall bearers were...Mr Montandon, Mr Dunoyer, Mr Frey, and his first partner as a vigneron, Mr Breguet, senior. Altogether there must have been five or six hundred persons present."

The grave of David Louis and Esther Pettavel,
Eastern Cemetery Geelong, Old Church of England
Section, Grave 133

Following David Pettavel's death, the property passed to his nephew in Switzerland, Henri Louis Pettavel. In 1872 Henri arrived to take on the running of the vineyard and the following year, he married his cousin Rose Cécile Marendaz. The Victoria Vineyard did not stay long in the family however, and by 1878 Henri was looking to sell. Throughout June that year, the property was advertised for sale in the Geelong Advertiser as a "splendid vineyard property fronting the Waurn Ponds and Colac Road."
By April the following year, the property had been sold and Henri held a clearing sale preparatory to returning to Switzerland with his family (Geelong Advertiser, 7th April, 1879). During the voyage, Rose gave birth to their youngest son David Louis. Their return to Switzerland was not permanent however, as registry records show that Henri died at Springvale in 1929 at the age of 77, predeceasing Rose by some seven years.

Memorial plaque in the grave of David Louis and Esther Pettavel commemorating
David's nephew Henri François Tétaz

The property meanwhile, was purchased by Philip McKim and remained in that family for a further 60 years. Over subsequent years, the property passed through various hands. In the mid-1950s the house was gutted by fire and suffered further fire damage in 1969. According to From Boudry to the Barrabool Hills: Swiss vignerons in Geelong, the vineyard and buildings had been dismantled by 1983 and by the 1990s, a new homestead had been built on the site of the old house which was owned by K.J. Lyons. Since this time, the property has changed hands a number of times, most recently according to real estate data, in 2003. The original 585 acre block purchased by Pettavel has been subdivided over the years and put to other uses, but today the south west corner (the land extending from the Princes Hwy to Reservoir Rd and bounded on the west by Pettavel Rd) once again operates as a winery.
In 2001, Mike and Sandy Fitzpatrick established Pettavel Wines on this block, operating as a winery and restaurant until 2011 when mounting debt saw the business close. The property was eventually sold to the Scotchman's Hill Winery and re-opened to the public as The Hill Winery. Today the venue still operates as a winery and function centre under the name Mt Duneed Estate and in recent years has hosted concerts for A Day on the Green.
The Prince Albert Vineyard, remained in the Tétaz family until 1897 when, suffering from poor health, Charles moved to Colac to be near other family members. He died there of Bright's Disease on 28th August, 1897 and was buried at the Highton Cemetery.
The vineyard itself was allowed to run down and the house - similar to that built at Victoria Vineyard - was much altered, with the upper storey and a verandah being removed. By 1983 only ruins and the large, two-roomed cellar remained.
In 1975 on a part of the original property in Lemins Rd, Bruce and Sue Hyett established a second Prince Albert Vineyard, growing pinot noir grapes. They harvested their first vintage in 1978. In 1998 the vineyard gained organic certification and today continues to operate under the current owner David Yates.

*Whilst the above plaque gives Henri's year of death as 1856, Geelong Cemeteries Trust gives his date of death as 12th April, 1857 with his burial taking place at the Eastern Cemetery two days later. The letter written by his brother Charles informing his family in Switzerland of his brother's death indicates that Henri died on Tuesday 13th April, 1857 and was buried the following day. I could not find a record of his death in the Index of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Seidel's Farm

Last year, I looked at a number of the works of the 19th century landscape artist Eugene von Guerard who sketched and painted a number of locations along the Barwon River. With assistance, I was able to identify the locations from which von Guerard produced a number of his pieces. In addition to those drawings we studied, von Guerard also sketched another scene overlooking the Barwon, this time upstream from Geelong not too far from Ceres.
The scene which caught his eye on the 18th March, 1854 was a vineyard in the Barrabool Hills, owned by German immigrants Alwin and Bernard Seidel, vignerons who arrived in the district on a wave of Swiss chain migration which saw members of extended families settle on the fertile banks of the creeks and rivers around Geelong. The Swiss vine-growers were encouraged to come to Australia by Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe whose wife Sophie de Montmollin was Swiss. La Trobe had spent time in Switzerland prior to their 1835 marriage and subsequent arrival in New South Wales in 1839 and would have been well-acquainted with Swiss wine production.
The Seidels it seems, were also acquainted with von Guerard as he mentions in the diary he kept of his time on the gold fields that he was travelling with "Seidel" - possibly one of the brothers. Clearly, he spent time visiting with them at the farm after his return from his gold-seeking adventures.
The Seidel's vineyard, was established in about 1849 (Geelong Advertiser, 2nd February, 1861) around a kilometre east of Ceres on Barrabool Road. Facing north east, it was situated high above the Barwon, looking out across both the Moorabool and Barwon Valleys. Today, the site lies just to the west of the Ceres/Highton exit from the Geelong Ring Road and whilst much has changed, the view is still commanding.

Looking towards the You Yangs from a position a little to the
east of Seidel's Vineyard

Initially known as the Ceres Nursery (later the Ceres Vineyard), the Seidels grew fruit trees - plums, apples, apricots and peaches are all mentioned - as well as grapes. A report in the Geelong Advertiser of 2nd February, 1861 indicates that the brothers may have farmed side by side rather than together. It states that "the Ceres Vineyard and nursery [is] the property of Alwin and Bernard Seidel, of which the former brother cultivates seven acres of vines and six of orchard and the latter six acres of either."
That they were there at all however is a testament to their determination. Ten years earlier, their fledgling nursery was completely destroyed when on 6th February, 1851 the Black Thursday bushfires struck the district. The family were lucky to escape with their lives but - undeterred - rebuilt their home and replanted their orchard and vineyard. After the outbreak of the Victorian gold rush in August, 1851, much of their fruit was taken to Ballarat for sale.

1854 Sketch of "Seidel's farm" by Eugene von Guerard. Click to enlarge

The Seidels retained ownership of the vineyard until 1863 when Alwin was declared insolvent and the property sold to Mr Louis Kitz for £1,356 (Geelong Advertiser, 5th March, 1863). Despite this setback, Alwin remained on the property as manager for some years.
In what is perhaps a testament to the vineyard's success - or perhaps just its proximity to Geelong - the vineyard was visited by the Governor of Victoria Sir Charles Darling, on his first tour of the district following his appointment. The governor spent over an hour on the property whilst Louis Kitz showed him sights and elaborated on the finer points of wine-making before inviting him to sample the produce (Geelong Advertiser, 9th December, 1863).
 By 1870 however, Kitz in turn had moved on and the property was sold to another pioneering vigneron - Alexander Belperroud, originally the owner of the Berramonga Vineyard located further upstream near today's Merrawarp Road. Belperroud renamed the property Sebastopol and began getting things in shape. The Geelong Advertiser of 7th June, 1871 reported that:

Mr Alexander Belperroud from seven acres has made 25 hhds, as against 4 hhds last year, when his vineyard was in a neglected condition he having only just taken possession.

His tenure however was also short-lived. Barely more than a month after the above article was penned, Belperroud's wife Mary died and by 1874 with his own health beginning to fail, he sold the vineyard and retired to a cottage at nearby Ceres where he died in July the following year.
Alwin Seidel died on 13th September, 1910 at the age of 88 and was buried with his wife Augusta (died 1895), in the Old Methodist section of Geelong's Eastern Cemetery the following day. His burial details record his name as Gustuv Alwin Seidel.
I am uncertain what became of Bernard, however an elderly man of that name died after he was involved in an accident with a police officer on a bike in Melbourne in 1903.
Today, little remains of the original farm buildings which are privately owned. The Victorian Heritage Database describes the remnant structures thus:

Intact cellar. There are also a concrete lined dam/water storage pond, a brick-lined cistern and an area of ruins. The cellar is rectangular, measuring approx 9.5 x 5m. It is entered through a standing sandstone porch, through double timber doors, of which one side remains in situ. Ten steps lead down into the cellar, which is of sandstone construction, with a barrel vaulted roof. There are two roof windows opening to the north. A further two windows in the south side of the vault are blocked but may once have been open. They are now covered on the outside by a stone pavement. There is a shallow niche in the west wall and what may have been another roof window, or a vent, above this. This window/vent is also blocked. A very old ivy bush is growing on the north corner of the porch. There may also have been a structure above the cellar but, if so, it has been removed. There is an area of stone pavement and a concrete slab to the south of the cellar. To the north are the cistern and an area of scattered building stone, bricks and concrete. The dam is located to the south, between the cellar and the road.

One final point of interest is to note that almost a year to the day after the date on von Guerard's sketch of Seidel's farm, he made another two drawings. Like the earlier sketch, these works took in the Barrabool Hills and were the subject of one of my earlier posts. The photo below was taken from a similar position to that from which von Guerard sketched the view looking south along the Barwon. The site of Seidel's farm - which cannot be seen for the intervening hills -  lies over the hill a mile south of the power line seen to the right of the photo.

The view close to the location on the Barwon from which von Guerard
sketched the southerly aspect of the hills.

When compared to the above sketch of Seidel's farm, the central hill in the above photograph is most likely the north face of the dark shaded hilltop to the left of the farmhouse.

Things that go bump at 'The Heights'

Over the years, my most popular blog post has transpired to be one in which I looked at ghosts. In "...landlord to a ghost..." I took a look at which of the old houses along the Barwon were believed to be haunted. As it happens, most of the oldest buildings claim to have acquired a ghost or two over the years. 'The Heights" in Newtown is no exception and it was there on a recent Saturday evening that I was invited to act as a volunteer whilst 'The Heights' played host to a "paranormal investigation".
We arrived just on dusk and along with a further four volunteers proceeded to get things ready for the arrival of the living guests.
Our hosts for the evening - Paranormal X-Files - also arrived to set up an array of electronic equipment including infrared cameras, digital thermometers, spirit boxes, an Ovilus and REM pods. If you don't know what this equipment is or how it claims to work, a quick check on Google will set you straight.

A REM-POD similar to that used at 'The Heights'

Eventually, as darkness descended and with all the guests in attendance, we were divided into two groups and set off to investigate. Our group remained in the house where our investigation took us from room to room in search of spirits. At various points the equipment glowed as various coloured lights flashed and an array of electronic noises issued forth. After 3/4 of an hour the group concluded that they may have made contact with a spirit called "Ian" and some guests indicated that they had "felt" a temperature change, a "presence" or been "touched". Two unaccountable knocks were heard in reply to the investigators three knocks and the word "white" was also heard.
At this point, we exchanged places with the other group and all trooped outside to investigate the cold room under the water tower and the stables. Once again the equipment flashed and screeched and people reported temperature changes. Whereas the other group claimed to have been told to "GET OUT!" of the stables, we were not.
The night ended with a joint discussion of what had been seen, heard and felt and the guests were escorted through the darkness to the gate.
So, if ghosts really were present at 'The Heights' who were they? So far I have been unable to find anyone named "Ian" who had an association with the property however the word "white" is a little mcore interesting when one considers the history of the place.
'The Heights' is a pre-fabricated timber building which was purpose made in Germany, shipped to Australia and assembled at "Newtown Hill" for local woolbroker, merchant and pastoralist Charles Ibbotson in 1854. I have mentioned both Ibbotson and the property not only in the post about ghosts mentioned above, but also speculated that the European landscape painter Eugene von Guerard may have paid a visit to Ibbotson and 'The Heights' during its construction whilst he was staying with Frederick Bauer - owner of 'Fritzwilhelmberg House' (now 'Raith') - not far away in Newtown. It was Bauer, a German ironmonger who ran a business in Ryrie St, who was responsible for the erection of 'The Heights'.
The original building erected by Bauer consisted of 14 rooms. Verandas were also added then stables (1855), a groom's cottage (1856-7), water tower (c1860) a bluestone stable complex (1862) and in 1875, a billiard room. Towards the end of the 19th century, a dovecote was also built. According to the National Trust who now own the property, the original garden was designed by Scottish gardener Robert Hughes in the 1860s.

'The Heights' 1866, image held by the State Library of Victoria

'The Heights'' first owner, Charles Ibbotson was an Englishman, born in Derbyshire, England who migrated to Sydney in the 1830s. He and his wife Maryanne Dickens were married in Sydney in 1850 and moved to Geelong not long after. Whilst 'The Heights' was erected in 1854, the surrounding land was not purchased by Ibbotson until the mid-1860s. The original purchaser was Duncan Hoyle who bought allotment 3, Section 10 of the Parish of Moorpanyal at a government land sale in July, 1847 (Geelong Advertiser and Squatters' Advocate, 23rd July, 1847), allotment 5, Section 10 in December, 1847 (Port Phillip Gazette and Settlers' Journal, 11th December, 1847) and may well have purchased the neighbouring allotment 2 the previous year (Sydney Morning Herald, 6th February, 1846) as he is listed on survey maps as the original purchaser. 'The Heights' sits in the middle of allotment 2 but appears to have been built on around 2 acres of land already owned by Ibbotson at the time.
In addition to his business interests in Dalgety & Co. Woolstores, Ibbotson sat on a number of boards and committees including the council of the Borough of Newtown and Chilwell, where he served a term as mayor. He was supportive of efforts to bring the railway to Geelong and was a member on the committee of management of the Botanic Gardens. On 16th December, 1863, he chaired the meeting which established the Geelong branch of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, whose aim was to introduce familiar and productive species of plants and animals from around the world to the Colony of Victoria (Geelong Advertiser, 17th December, 1863). On 22nd July, 1867 it was reported in The Argus that a shipment containing "a number of larks, thrushes, sparrows, chaffinches, and other birds" had arrived for Ibbotson who is widely attributed with having introduced several such species to Victoria, releasing them from 'The Heights'.
Towards the end of 1866, not long after purchasing the surrounding land from Duncan Hoyle, Ibbotson - then the mayor of Newtown and Chilwell - hosted members of the council and the press to a meal at 'The Heights', showing off his newly-acquired land and outlining his plans to develop it (Geelong Advertiser, 22nd November, 1866). This included planting the slopes stretching down to the river with vines, fruits and vegetables.
In 1882, Ibbotson's wife Maryanne died after an extended illness and was buried at the Western Cemetery, then, after also suffering a long health battle Ibbotson died the following year on 20th October and was buried with his wife.

The Ibbotson grave in the Church of England Section, Row 1. grave 1515

His estate was divided amongst his two sons and four daughters, with 'The Heights' passing to his youngest daughter Minna Elizabeth.
Although the Victorian birth, death and marriage records do not appear to show it, the Geelong Advertiser recorded on 4th November, 1887 that Minna married James Burnett. It did not indicate where the ceremony took place. The marriage however was short-lived as James died at the Grand Hotel, Spring St, in Melbourne on 6th January, 1888 at the age of 39.
By June that year, Minna had placed 'The Heights' on the market. Advertisements throughout May and June indicate that "upwards of 80 acres" of the property was to be offered for sale by tender (Geelong Advertiser, 1st June, 1888). According to a later report in the Geelong Advertiser of 16th June, the property was snapped up amidst keen interest by a Melbourne syndicate who intended to subdivide the property. Although it is not made clear, the land sale presumably did not include the house and land immediately surrounding it as this remained in the possession of the family for decades to come, with significant areas sold to the Geelong College and St Joseph's College in later years.
Not long after the death of her husband, Minna must have travelled to London as it was here on 28th September, 1889 that she married her second husband (The Argus, 31st December, 1889). Not long after, they returned to live at 'The Heights'.
This gentleman went by the name of Louis Australia WHYTE ...

'Ingliston'

Whilst researching some details for my "Making Tracks" series of blog posts, I gathered quite a bit of information about some of the properties through which the track from Steiglitz to Ballarat passed, however it did not relate directly to what I was writing, so I saved it for later. The properties in question were the 'Ingliston', Warrenheip and Lal Lal Runs of Peter Inglis which are the subject of my next posts.
The squatting run which came to be known as 'Ingliston' was not within the Barwon catchment region, but rather, lay along the upper reaches of the Werribee River, however the squatter who lent his name to the property did have substantial land holdings within the Barwon Catchment, so this post will look at all of those holdings, 'Ingliston' being the first.
The Fisken-Inglis family - including Archibald Fisken Senior, his wife Eliza (née Inglis), their children and Eliza's brother Peter Inglis - arrived in Port Phillip in 1840 aboard the ship Dauntless. Amongst the children was the Fisken's 11 year old son Archibald Jr.
Peter Inglis was a merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, but once in Australia he decided to turn his hand to squatting. On 1st November, 1841 he took over the lease of a run on the upper Werribee River which he named 'Ingliston'. He had purchased the lease for the property from its original holders, Dr David Henry Wilsone (a Melbourne MD) and John Campbell who had taken up the run in 1839. Known simply as Wilsone & Campbell's Run, the pair had established a homestead on the property at Cornong Hill and were running 4,000 sheep on the land. In 1841 however, Wilsone died. Without his business partner, Campbell was forced to give up the lease which was taken up by Peter Inglis who took on not only the property, but the stock and equipment as well. When the run was gazetted in 1849, it consisted of 14,440 acres which extended from the present site of Ballan, south to the Werribee Gorge area, taking in the land along the banks of the Werribee River and stretching past Fiskville to the west.

Peter Inglis, 1872. Image held by the State Library of Victoria

Inglis was unhappy with the original site of the house and as a result, had it removed to Nimbuk, or Inglis Hill as it came to be known. The now heritage-listed homestead still stands today on Ingliston Rd, about 10km south east of the town of Ballan. Living with Peter at 'Ingliston' were his sister, brother-in-law and their children - the Fiskens - who had arrived in Australia with him the previous year. Archibald Fisken Sr's role was to manage a store on the property which supplied the station and those in the vicinity in the days prior to closer settlement.
 His son, the younger Archibald Fisken, was educated both at Scotch College and by private tutors whilst also learning the ropes of running the station from his uncle, becoming an accomplished horseman and stock-handler at an early age. Archibald Sr, died in 1854 and was buried in the private cemetery on the property at 'Ingliston'. His wife Eliza had died in 1845. Archibald Jr - now in his twenties - remained working with his uncle.
During the 1840s, in addition to developing 'Ingliston', Peter further expanded his pastoral holdings, first adding the lease for 'Warrenheip' and then that of Lal Lal Station to his growing empire. Some sources indicate that Peter acquired the 27,339 acre Warreneep lease as early as 1842/3, however the earliest contemporary mention I can find of the run in association with Inglis is 1848. The spelling of name varied over the years with Warraneep, Warrenheep and Warrenheip all being used at various times. The name is believed to be a corruption of the Wathaurong word "Warrengeep" meaning "emu feathers" and described the appearance of foliage on Mt Warrenheip as seen by the indigenous people of the district.
Gazetted in 1849, its grazing capacity at that time was indicated as 2,000 sheep and 1,500 cattle. The property extended from the Leigh River in the west, where it adjoined the Yuilles' Ballarat Run, south past today's Yendon township where it bordered the Mt Boninyong Estate of Robert Scott and 'Lal Lal', the other Inglis/Fisken run. To the east it formed a border with the Peerewerrh Run of William Henry Bacchus and with Wyndham to the north.

Section of map showing the location of the squatting runs of the Inglis and
Fisken families. Image taken from Victorian Squatters, Robert Spreadborough
& Hugh Anderson, 1983

 A retrospective article in The Star 18th January, 1870 stated that the lease for 'Warreneep' was originally held by the Levitt brothers who set up a pig-growing enterprise. Their endeavours however, were unsuccessful, with some of the pigs escaping and running feral in the surrounding bush. According to the same article, following the Levitts' departure, the leasehold for 'Warreneep' was taken up by a group of investors named Welsh, Verner and Holloway who hired a manager by the name of Haverfield. This source also stated that Inglis took up the Warrenheip Run in 1843, however the publication Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip (Billis & Kenyon, 1974) indicates that in 1842 the 'Warreneep' lease was held by partners Cornish and Taylor who were definitely in the district but were not mentioned in the 1870 retrospective. An index of the superintendent's correspondence 1839-1851 confirms that Cornish and Taylor were at 'Warraneed'(sic) in 1841. Billis & Kenyon indicate that 'Warrenheip' was in the hands of Inglis by 1846.

A sketch by Eugene von Guerard, 5th February, 1854 showing a distant view of
Mt Warrenheip, sketched on the banks of the Yarrowee River flowing through
Inglis' Warrenheip Run. Image held by the State Library of Victoria.
*See note below

His acquisition of the Lal Lal Run by contrast would seem more certain. This appears to have occurred during 1846 when it was transferred from John Whitehall Stevens. In October of that year however, Stevens was still stating his address as 'Lal Lal'. The first mention of Inglis as leaseholder, appeared the following month, suggesting the transfer did not occur until late in the year.
Prior to Inglis and Stevens, the first European settlers to occupy 'Lal Lal' were Messrs Blakeney and George S Airey who appear to have been in occupation until about 1843. At 18,313 acres and estimated as capable of running 1,500 cattle, it was not as large as large as 'Warrenheip', however their shared boundary meant that the two properties were run conjointly. This boundary with 'Warreneep' lay to the north west of the run which extended from Williamson's Creek and the Mt Boninyong Run in the west, to Woolen Creek (a tributary of the Moorabool River) to the east. To the south it bordered the Narmbool and Borhoneyghurk Runs whilst the Peerewerrh Run of W.H. Bacchus'and 'Borambeta' held by the Bradshaws lay to the north.
At a mere 17 years of age, the younger Archibald Fisken was put in charge of both 'Warreneep' and 'Lal Lal' where he lived in a slab hut, thus beginning his successful career as a grazier. His uncle must have had confidence in the young man's abilities because on 4th April, 1848, he departed for London on the ship Stag, leaving Archibald in charge. Whilst in England, Inglis married Margaret Ord of Glasgow. In later years, it was claimed that the couple had known each other prior to Inglis' departure to Australia and that she had been unwilling to come with him at that time. Presumably through his endeavours in the colony he had proved himself worthy and she consented to return with him to Victoria where they settled at 'Ingliston'.

A view of the Rowsley Valley looking north towards 'Ingliston' from Glenmore
Rd, March, 2014

Once back in Victoria, Inglis concentrated his efforts on 'Ingliston', leaving the other properties to his nephew Archibald. Upon his turning 21, Warreneep and Lal Lal Runs were formally transferred to Fisken's ownership with the expectation that their purchase price would be paid back to his uncle when he was financially in a position to do so.
Peter Inglis died at 'Ingliston' in July, 1869 and was buried in the family cemetery located on the property. His wife Margaret survived him by many years, living until 1905 when she also was laid to rest with the other members of the family. At the time of their respective deaths, the media of the day were at pains to convey the kindliness of both Peter and Margaret and to express the esteem in which they were held by the community. 'Ingliston' passed to their two sons.

*This sketch most probably formed the basis for the well-known von Guerard painting Warrenheip Hills near Ballarat 1854, held by the National Gallery of Victoria. The location from which von Guerard made the sketch was located in 2015 by George Hook. His discovery is described in the following blog post by Historic Urban Landscape Ballarat

Which Bridge?

By the end of 1848, the Moorabool River crossing at Bates' Ford - as the area was by then commonly known - had its new bridge. The wool clip could be conveyed to Geelong, travellers could pass in safety and pedestrians could cross the Moorabool without fear of falling through rotten timbers and pitching into the river below; for a while at least.
According to one local source (History of Batesford: 1842-1941, held by the Geelong Historical Records Centre) the new bridge is said to have stood in the same position as the the historic bluestone bridge stands today. That this is likely to be substantially correct is supported by an 1850 reference to the bridge and the public house being "not more than fifty yards apart" (The Argus, 22nd June, 1850). The premises in question would have been the Marrabool Inn which stood where the Batesford Hotel does today and even now the distance between the hotel and the stone bridge is almost exactly 50 yards. Like its predecessor, the 1848 bridge was a timber structure, but other than this, I have managed to find little extra detail.

Batesford Hotel and the 1859 bluestone bridge, looking west. November, 2016

In addition to the new bridge, there were also roadworks. On 26th December, 1848, the Geelong Advertiser reported that  the government had decided to "open and make certain parish roads...viz:--From North Geelong to the bridge over the Moorabool River at Bates's Ford, being part of the Great Western Road."
Prior to this, in 1840 works had been undertaken to realign the eastern approach to the river. Whether this line of road crossed the river at Manifold's Ford or via the original timber bridge is not clear, but the road followed a similar alignment to the modern Midland Hwy across the river flats at Batesford. The route from Geelong at that time was probably more track than road and followed a path which meandered across Bell Post Hill and down into the valley (see map in previous post). The alignment proposed in 1848 followed the modern line across Bell Post Hill, approaching the river via what is now the Old Ballarat Rd at Batesford which is little different to the 1840 or the modern alignment, further confirming perhaps the location of the 1848 bridge on or very near the bluestone bridge.
So for the time being, Bates' Ford had a reliable bridge. Two years prior to the construction of the bridge, the land to the east of the Moorabool had been auctioned by the government. The purchaser of allotment 10, section A, Parish of Moorpanyal, was George Hope. This 468 acre parcel of land stretched from the banks of the river, eastward to today's Geelong-Ballan Rd and included the sites of both Manifold's and Bates' fords, the Marrabool Inn and - from 1848 - the new bridge.
As a local landholder, Hope was no doubt well aware of the importance of the river crossing and, seeing a business opportunity, in 1850 he arranged for the subdivision of this block into town and small farm allotments. After an extensive advertising campaign the "Village of Batesford and Estate of Hopeton" was offered for public auction by T Horsbrugh at 12pm on the 18th July. The auction was well attended and many blocks were purchased. Any unsold land was advertised over the following months as "for sale by private bargain".

The original subdivision of Batesford Township by George
Hope. Image taken from Batesford and its Early Families,
Bettina Blackall, 1991

The following year, on 21st February, a second auction was held, followed by further subdivision and a third auction on 26th August, 1853. By this time of course, the gold rush was in full swing and business was booming. Batesford however, was once again having trouble with its bridge.
In late May, 1852 floods had yet again hit the Moorabool River. This time, the water reached the highest level seen since European settlement. In the newly-established town of Batesford, houses built in the wake of George Hope's auction, were inundated and people forced to take to their roofs to escape the rising floodwaters (The Argus, 25th May, 1852). After the water receded, the bridge which was less than four years old, was found to be in a very bad state. The Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer reported on 25th May, that the bridge was "so shattered and ill conditioned by the late inundation, as to be extremely dangerous."
The response from government was typically slow. It was not until January, 1853 that tenders were called for the erection of a new - timber - bridge. According to the local publication Batesford - an historical background (Jennifer Warner, Geelong Historical Records Centre), the new bridge was a composite through truss structure designed by Charles Rowand. For unexplained reasons however, no tender appears to have been accepted. Instead, construction got underway immediately using day labour.
At this point however, things become a little unclear and there is some doubt as to whether the 1848 bridge was replaced completely or instead, was extensively repaired. If the latter was the case - and I tend to think it was - then the "third" Batesford bridge must have been located on the same site as the 1848 bridge. Regardless, it was not until September (Warner claims) that the works were completed and in the meantime, reports began to appear in the newspapers expressing the concerns and frustrations of the community as they waited for completion of the works:

22nd January (Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer) "The [Batesford] bridge is very rough, and not too safe; its centre happens to present a cavity, the decent(sic) into, or ascent out of which gives the bullocks and their drays an awkward shaking." 

28th March (Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer) "BATES' FORD BRIDGE--This unique specimen of colonial engineering is shaped exactly like a W, or a man drawn up by a cramp in the stomach. At present it is impassable, for months past it has been only dangerous. A small platform is thrown across the river for the benefit of pedestrians, equestrians, and quadrupeds, which platform half a day's rain would wash away. Via Bates' Ford, communication with the Leigh, Buninyong, Ballarat, &c, is carried on by means of a PLANK. Hear that, ye Board of Commissioners of Roads and Bridges." 

9th May (The Tasmanian Colonist) "the Government at last showed a disposition to repair parts of the roads leading to the Western diggings. They have contented themselves with patching up one bridge, that of Bate's Ford, leaving other parts of the route in a most disgraceful condition." 

14th July, 1853 (Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer) "the broken-backed [bridge] at Batesford" 

3rd August, 1853 (Geelong Advertiser and Inelligencer) "There is one comfort for Geelong--it can scarcely be worse treated. We get little from the Melbourne Government, and are likely to get little more...
...We could wander on the banks of the Barwon, like an unquiet spirit on the shores of the Styx, and mark the ruin and the desolation there, and, turning towards Melbourne, ask, in the name of the 25,000 people why "the bridge is broke and can't be mended?" Of     course La Trobe laughs at it himself, and enjoys the fun of turning Geelong into a "galanti show" for fifteen months. He makes split-stuff of us for laughter, and carries on a wholesale business in the joke line at our expense....
...Across the Moorabool there is a bridge, evidently intended for a steeple chase, or kept in its present state out of compliment to the chamois hunters of Switzerland, having precipitous peaks, and two gorges represented by the letter W--this form being the best adapted for the transit of horses and bullock drays in the Western District.
The impetus acquired in the first descent carries the object to the next apex, where, if it could be made to turn over, we should have a correct idea of a centrifugal railway. This bridge is intended to prevent people crossing, and answers its purpose admirably. Undoubtedly, during the present winter, his Excellency has saved many valuable lives by preventing people adventuring on the Buninyong road, which probably they would have done but for this "chevaux de frise".
People blame the government, in the case of the Barwon bridge, for not repairing what is undone. In the case of the Bar [Point Henry sandbar], the government is blamed for not doing that which for years they had promised, and still promise to do, without doing. With the Bates Ford bridge, the blame is for doing badly at first, and worse afterwards. Nor is this all. The wallet is not yet emptied. There is another grievance, growing with years, heedlessly passed by, and jeeringly encountered.
The Melbourne Government is aware that there are such places as Buninyong and Ballarat, and that the traffic thither is carried on along a line of road beautifully diversified by bog, swamp, and morass, existing in primitive punity impassable to anything except birds, will-o'-th-wisps and Jack-o'-lanthorns(sic), and which has proved fatal, probably, to one mailman and two horses. This is the trunk line to the Western gold fields, and affords a prime subject, illustrative of centralisation, and the transcendent humbug employed to maintain a specious prosperity in one place. Assuming to be a fact, that which was stated in the Council, promulgated from the from the Bench, echoed by the Melbourne papers, and recently used as an argument against the reduction of the license fees, viz., that the proceeds of the gold fields are expended in police, and on roads to and from the gold fields, we maintain, upon this ground alone, that we have been robbed of a hundred thousand pounds during the last eleven months...

The comments from March and May suggest that the it was eventually decided to repair the old bridge, as perhaps does the use of day labour. Indeed an illustration produced by Engineer Rowand (see below), showing both the new and old structures together, may perhaps indicate a composite structure. Of course, if the bridge was being repaired, a separate means of crossing would be required and this was perhaps the purpose of the "plank" which was in use during March when the bridge was said to be impassable, although how long it was used is uncertain.

An illustration from 1853 taken from Batesford - an historical background
(Jennifer Warner, Geelong Historical Records Centre) which purports to show
both the old and "new" bridges and indicates normal river height and that of
the 1852 flood

Clearly, progress was slow, with the bridge still in a state of disrepair by July and seemingly still retaining its distinctive "W" shape as late as the beginning of August.  However, with the works presumably drawing to a close towards the end of that month, tenders were called to metal the Batesford Rd (The Argus, 22nd August, 1853); a road which by then was carrying thousands to and from the goldfields as the last article was keen to convey. Amongst those travelling across the bridge at Batesford, were two well known artists. One was the famous landscape painter Eugene von Guerard, who crossed the bridge on his way to the goldfields on 11th January, 1853. He described crossing the Moorabool by a very unsound wooden bridge". He did not however, stop to make a sketch - at least not one which has survived. The second artist - Henry Winkles - however did stop to draw what he saw.
His sketch was made "circa 1853" at "Bates' ford near Geelong". Winkles was an English artist, engraver and printer, who trained in both England and Germany as a draughtsman before coming to Australia. Shipping records show that he arrived in Melbourne in October, 1852 on board the Mobile from where he travelled to the goldfields to visit his son. During his time there he drew what he saw around him, making many sketches of the everyday life of the diggers. His stay in the Colony of Victoria was relatively brief, lasting a little over a year and by December, 1853 he was back in Melbourne, ready to depart for England on the appropriately-named Great Britain.

Sketch of the Bates' Ford Bridge c1853 by Henry Winkles

Whilst it is possible that he stopped at Batesford to make his sketch at any point during this time, the bridge shown in his illustration appears to be straight, definitely nothing like the warped and misshapen structure described prior to its being rebuilt. It is also worth noting the pile of timber lying near one end of the bridge, implying either construction or demolition of some sort. For this reason, I am inclined to think that Winkles sketched the new - or newly refurbished - bridge, perhaps on his way back to Melbourne to take ship for England.

So, after more than a year of frustration, delay and criticism, I assume from the crashing silence in the newspapers that Batesford finally had a bridge which was - if not state of the art - at least functional once again.

Fyansford's forgotten falls: a lost von Guerard

My previous three posts identified the locations along the Barwon River of several sketches made by 19th century landscape painter Eugene von Guerard during his visits to Geelong during the 1850s. Some were developed into oil paintings which became well-known works of art such as View of Geelong and Mr Lewin's Hut on the Barwon River. Others, such as his sketches of the Barrabool Hills appear to have remained just that - sketches. Whilst the locations of these and other illustrations depicting scenes on the Barwon at Buckley Falls were easy enough to identify, there was one sketch which had both George Hook and I scratching our heads.
The scene portrayed was a narrow waterfall beside an elevated road, upon which two loaded drays were travelling. The first clue as to the fall's location came from von Guerard's own notes which indicated that the scene was the "Moorabool Valley and new [road] to Ballarat near Fyansford. 14 March. Geelong." (My translator was unsure of the 5th word and from context the year was 1855.)
So, this spot was near Fyansford on the Moorabool River, not the Barwon.  But where? I had never seen such a fall along the lower reaches of the Moorabool. I was aware that a section of several kilometres along the river had been diverted during the 1980s to facilitate works at the Batesford Quarry. Could the waterfall have been in this section? Perhaps.  I had only ever seen the newer diversion, not the original watercourse.

von Guerard sketch of the Moorabool Valley

If this was the case then where was the"new road" which appeared in the sketch? Survey maps of the area mostly indicated that the only surveyed road between the Lower Leigh Rd (Hamilton Hwy) and the Leigh Rd (Midland Hwy) was today's Fyansford-Gheringhap Rd. The 1861 geological survey map marked some roads running to the river (which I doubt were ever made), but none of them crossed or ran alongside the river. Could the "road" have been a track on private land?  If so, why describe it as a new road? To me this implied a newly made public road. Furthermore, this land west of the Moorabool was considered grazing land. The geological survey was yet to be undertaken in 1855 when the sketch was made and the quarry was decades away. There were river crossings at Batesford and Fyansford but no mention of another between the two.
So, was there a road near the Moorabool at Fyansford which would have been considered new in 1855 when the sketch was made? Well, yes. There was. In 1854 the first bridge at Fyansford was built across the Moorabool River. It was erected several hundred metres downstream from the original ford and at the time of its construction, the road leading out of the valley on either side of the river was redirected to the new crossing point and upgraded - a new road near Fyansford. A road furthermore, which was heavily plied by diggers heading to the goldfields of Ballarat or the pastures of the Western District.
It was probably no co-incidence that it was this same section of road to the west of the river which immediately came to mind when I first saw the sketch. I envisaged von Guerard positioned with his back to the river and looking up to the road rising out of the valley to the west.
But where was the waterfall? Could the site have been a gully running into the river beside the road at this point, rather than a fall on the river itself? An initial visit to the cutting did not immediately reveal the likely site of a gully, but much has changed since 1855. Both the Monier Bridge (1900) and the current bridge (1970) were built on sites downstream of the original bridge. By the 1920s, the land to the south of the Hamilton Hwy was Nichterlein's bluestone quarry and the Lower Papermills Rd had been built in the 1870s, a narrow gully could easily have become the victim of 160 years of development.

Modern cutting on the Hamilton Hwy at Fyansford, June, 2016

And there things might have stayed except that on a subsequent visit to the site, I noticed an old section of road rising up the valley, roughly parallel and a short distance to the south of the present road. I soon decided that this was the route of the original section of road formed in 1854 when the first bridge was built. Finally perhaps, a remnant from von Guerard's day.
I then discovered that in 1854 this road passed by a dangerous drop which according to The Argus of 27th April, 1855 (a mere five weeks after von Guerard made his sketch) was the scene of an accident which saw a horse and dray, along with its driver, plunge down a "precipice some twenty feet deep" next to the "new road" which was "not fenced in on either side, and [was] very narrow".
So, I now knew that the road out of the Moorabool Valley at Fyansford had passed by a steep drop of about 20 feet (or 6 metres), however as indicated during my conversations with George Hook, the height of the falls as estimated from the sketch may have been closer to 8m - perhaps even 10m. All this however was academic if the falls themselves could not be found. Imagine my excitement then when, on a subsequent visit, about 100m up the old line of road I heard the sound of trickling water!
Upon investigating the source of the noise, I discovered a channel - no more than a drain today - which ran beside the highway for some distance before dropping a short distance to a rocky crevice through which water was flowing.

Rocky channel from above the crevice

At this point, the water flowed over a natural rock formation, however the height of the drop was nowhere near the expected 8-10m, instead it was closer to 4m and the water was falling not onto the ground, but into a drain which was located just inside the fence of Nichterlein's former quarry (now the Fyansford Waste Disposal and Recycling Centre). From what I could see, it consisted of natural rock walls enclosed by a bluestone wall several metres in width and height. The floor was concrete and the collected water escaped via a large underground pipe at the bottom of the wall.

Drain in a corner of the old quarry

From above, it was difficult to determine angles. I needed to be down below, looking up as von Guerard had been. Time to visit the tip!
To cut a long story short, I was - reluctantly - allowed access to look at the site from below with just enough time to snap a few photos and ask a couple of questions. No, the manager didn't know when the drain was built, but assumed it was done when the site was a quarry and when OH&S and environmental concerns were unheard of. The pipe leading from the drain ran underground to the front of the property where, as he later showed me, it emptied into a culvert which runs under Lower Papermills Rd and drains into the river.

The extent of the fall today, viewed from the top of the bluestone wall

So, had I found another "missing von Guerard"? Well on balance, probably. Comparing my photos of the site at the tip to the sketch, there were certainly similarities, however it was also clear that quarrying had removed the majority of the high ground to the left of the waterfall whilst the height of the drain significantly impaired the view of the falls from below. Nor was it possible for me to establish what the original ground level was. Perhaps before the installation of the drain, the fall had been much greater. In addition, there were several places where boxthorn and other weeds growing over the rock face obscured some of the natural features, making comparison harder.

von Guerard's sketch and a photo taken from inside the quarry for comparison

In general however, the lines were the same as those of the sketch. In the photo I took, the cutting is out of shot to the right of the picture but is still present at the site. I have searched for photos which might include the site in the hope of getting a better idea of the original ground level, but have so far been unsuccessful.