Branching out - settling in

From what I have seen of the earliest days of settlement along the three rivers, there were two types of squatters who came to settle "Australia Felix". All were graziers, bringing with them the stock they hoped would thrive in the new land. All were adventurers, often embarking on extended treks into territory unknown to Europeans in search of grazing land but not all came to stay.
There were those like Cowie, Stead, the von Steiglitz brothers and the Learmouths who came, established their runs over the course of the 1840s and then returned to the United Kingdom. Then there were those like Russell, Thomson, the Austins and many more who came, built permanent houses on their runs and often took on prominent roles in the communities which grew up around them.
So for this post, rather than focus on a single part of a river or a single property, I thought this time I would look at a particular person who was amongst the second group: Dugald McPherson.

Dugald McPherson. Image held by Museum Victoria

Dugald was a Scotsman, born at Ashens, Argyllshire on 9th September, 1820. In 1840, he and his brother Peter arrived in Victoria and that same year, along with William Taylor - another Scottish immigrant -  Dugald took up the squatting licence for the property Moranghurk on the Moorabool River, about 42km from its confluence with the Barwon at Fyansford. There they ran their stock and built a small timber cottage.
They remained at Moranghurk until 1846 when, together, they made the move to the Wimmera district where they took up land. In 1848 the run was divided between the two. McPherson named his 53,000 acre run Ashens for his hometown in Scotland, whilst Taylor's run was known as Longerenong.
On the 1st June, 1852 at Melbourne, McPherson married Mary (May) O'Cock, the daughter of a St Kilda solicitor. With his new wife, Dugald returned to the Wimmera where May became the first white woman in the district, where she was considered quite a curiosity by the local indigenous population.
Only two years later however, McPherson was once again on the Moorabool River when 1854 he purchased the leasehold of John Cowie's Bungeeltap West run, presumably along with the pre-emptive right to 640 acres of land along the river which Cowie had purchased that same year.

Looking northwest across the Moorabool East Branch to Bungeeltap land
from the driveway of Emly Park

Here too the McPhersons are believed to have interacted with the local clan of the Wathaurong tribe, with Mrs McPherson reported to have witnessed a corroboree at the township on "Ballan Flat". The name Bungeeltap of course is derived from a local Wathaurong word, however I have seen two quite different meanings for the name. The first claims the meaning as "spirit water" the second, "eagle's nest". I do not know which is correct, but Bunjil (aka Bungal) was the name given to the eagle believed by the Wathaurong to be the creator spirit and who dwelt nearby at Lal Lal Falls.
Whilst not the first Europeans to settle the Bungeeltap West land, the McPhersons were the first family to call it home. In about 1863 they built a two-storey stone house in the gothic revival style, overlooking the east branch of the Moorabool River. It was at Bungeeltap homestead that their eight sons and five daughters were born. Two of the children who died in early childhood - Norman aged 3 (died 1861) and Cluny aged 4 (died in 1871) - are buried on the property. A shepherd named Tim who died from a snakebite during John Cowie's tenure in 1840 is also buried on Bungeeltap land, beside the river.

Looking north west across Bungeeltap land from the Egerton-Bungeeltap Rd

As with most of the large squatting runs, when the land acts of the 1860s were enacted, Bungeeltap West was thrown open for selection. In addition to the land held as part of his pre-emptive right, McPherson also purchased a further 293 acres directly to the north along the river. Another 274 acres were also purchased in the name of his father-in-law, Richard O'Cock, giving a total of around 1,200 acres in family hands before the squatting licence for the property was finally relinquished in 1880.
Then in November, 1875, a notice appeared in The Argus stating that estate agents had "...closed the sale of Emly Park Estate containing 6,700 acres...to Dugald Macpherson(sic)..." thus it seems that for a while at least, Bungeeltap East and Bungeeltap West were again held by a common owner. I cannot be sure how long Emly Park remained in McPherson's hands, however I was able to discover that in 1900, Vincent Valentine Mogg of nearby Yallock Vale purchased the property which he owned until his death in 1843.
As well as a grazier, McPherson was an innovator and was keen to improve his property and his flocks and herds. He was the first in Victoria to use an "earth scoop" also known as a "leveller" - a horse-drawn machine, guided by hand which was used to level ground for irrigation. He had his machine made at a local foundry from a drawing he had seen in a book.
Over the years, the property became known for its fine merino wool and beef cattle. Horses and horse breeding were also of interest to Dugald who it is reported, would drive a carriage and four-in-hand when visiting either Ballarat or Melbourne. At Ballarat's first national agricultural show in 1868, his horses, cattle and ewes all appeared in the prize lists and his name regularly appeared in the stock pages of the newspapers throughout the 1870s, 80s and 90s.

Bungeeltap stables. Image taken 1965 by John T Collins. Image held by
The State Library of Victoria

The McPhersons were also particularly active in the growing community at Ballan. Dugald was a councillor on the Ballan Council from 1864-1873, served as chief of the Highland Society of Ballarat and along with others was a founding member of the Australia Club in Melbourne. He was a devout Presbyterian and was the driving force and principal benefactor behind the establishment of St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Ballan which held its first service on 22nd June, 1866. The building still stands today as the Ballan Uniting Church.

Ballan Uniting Church

Dugald's wife "presented" the central stained glass window which adorns the northern end of the church and also laid the foundation stone. Her efforts to start a Sunday school at their Bungeeltap homestead, resulted in the opening of Bungeeltap State School No. 1155 in 1875.

Northern end of Ballan Uniting Church showing the window
presented by May McPherson

Interestingly, despite their Scottish ancestry and involvement with the Presbyterian Church, at least one of Dugald and May's sons attended Geelong Church of England Grammar School and is listed amongst the old boys in a 1915 issue of the school magazine The Corian.
In addition to their support for the church, the McPhersons appear to have taken an active role in the sporting life of the district. On 26th January, 1889 the younger members of the family were host to a cricket team made up of Ballan residents who travelled to Bungeeltap by coach to compete against a side composed of seven of the McPhersons and a few of their friends. The match was preceded by a luncheon, following which, hostilities commenced on "the well grassed flat on the banks of the Moorabool, between the Emly Park home station and Bungeeltap house" - I imagine on the Bungeeltap side. Whilst, the ladies of Bungeeltap were said to have been avid spectators at the game, Dugald does not appear to have been a participant in the match which was won comfortably by the Ballan men.
In addition to his pastoral interests at Bungeeltap, McPherson also held licences for Nhill Station in Northern Victoria and Paddington Station at Cobar in New South Wales, whilst his father-in-law Richard also moved to live near the family at Ballan. This house - known as Westcott - also passed to the McPhersons upon O'Cock's death in 1883, with one source indicating that the family used it as their town house. Between 1914 and 1930, the house was used as a private hospital and the fourth McPherson daughter died "at her residence, Westcott, Ballan" on 4th May, 1924.

The remaining portion of Westcott, Ballan

Dugald died at Bungeeltap on 20th October, 1901, but the family remained at Bungeeltap for the next 15 years until May also died there on 14th August, 1916. She was buried in the Ballan New Cemetery with Dugald in the family grave.

McDugald family grave, Ballan New Cemetery

Following her death, a clearing sale was held on the property, selling off the farm equipment and the property was leased out, however, the property did not remain long in family hands and by 1922, the property had been sold to William Rhodes who then undertook substantial renovation of the homestead and retained ownership of the property until his death in 1931 after which the estate passed to his widow and two children.

Branching out - Bungeeltap

In my previous post I mentioned two of the earliest squatters to settle near Geelong, overlooking the Moorabool River at Bell Post Hill - John Anthony Cowie and David Vere Stead. David Stead, born in 1797, was a Quaker from Falmouth in England. Cowie, also from England was born on 13th April, 1806. He was the youngest son of George Cowie, a bookseller from Hackney, London and Rachel Buxton. Cowie arrived in Tasmania in 1828 in a good financial position and took up land near Avoca. Soon he was expanding his holdings.


John Anthony Cowie, image on display at Osbourne House,
North Geelong

No doubt having heard of the potential wealth of "Australia Felix" as the unclaimed land across Bass Strait was known, both Cowie and Stead travelled to the Port Phillip district in November, 1835 from Tasmania with John Batman's party of settlers on the ship Norval, bringing stock for Dr Alexander Thomson. By March, 1836 the pair had taken up a run at Bell Post Hill overlooking Corio Bay and began to ship over their own stock.
According to the 1836 census of the Port Phillip district, Stead arrived there in February, 1836 which I am guessing may indicate that he returned to Tasmania after his initial landing to gather stock for the run he and Stead intended to select. In July, their colleague John von Steiglitz landed stock at Point Henry, presumably also for the Bell Post Hill run.
Their stay in the Geelong region however, was relatively brief. By 1838 Cowie, Stead and two of the von Steiglitz brothers were on the move again, taking their stock with them in search of greener pastures. These they found above the confluence of east and west branches of the Moorabool River. According to one story, after drawing straws it was decided that Stead should take up land on the east bank of the East Moorabool River, presumably leaving the west bank for Cowie. The von Steiglitz brothers moved on a little further still. Their properties will be the subject of a future post.
Together, the land held by Cowie and Stead covered some 30,000 acres. In 1850 the original run was officially divided. Stead's run to the east of the Moorabool East Branch was known as Bungeeltap East whilst Cowie's run was Bungeeltap West.


Looking towards Bungeeltap East from west of the river

Cowie settled into his new run by cementing family ties when on 14th September, 1842 he married Charlotte Christine von Steiglitz, the youngest daughter of the von Steiglitz family, sister to John, Robert and Charles von Steiglitz. The marriage took place at Ballanee, the squatting run of John von Steiglitz, located on the Werribee River.
Some years later, on 25th April, 1848 David Stead married Mary Jane Belcher, the daughter of Joseph William Belcher and Elizabeth Austin. The marriage took place on the run at Bungeeltap. The year following their marriage or soon thereafter, the Steads built a comfortable house known as Emly Park - no doubt named for his home in Falmouth, England on the eastern section of the run, overlooking the river. The original house still stands (with additions) today on the Egerton-Bungeeltap Road near the corner of the Ballan-Meredith Road. It is described as a colonial style house constructed from local sandstone and is open to the public as a guesthouse.

The front gates to Emly Park

David and his wife Mary Jane remained in Victoria for some years (although possibly not on the property), then, somewhere between 1858 and 1861, like many of the other Victorian pioneers, they returned to the United Kingdom. Their second son - named for his father - was born at Studley, Rostrevor, Ireland in 1861. Stead may none-the-less have maintained his licence at Bungeeltap for some time as he is listed as holding the property as late as 1861. This despite Thomas Montague Hammond described as being "of Emly Park" as early as 1854. David and Mary returned to Melbourne on at least one occasion from the UK, their names appearing in the shipping records in 1868.
Their fourth daughter Lillian Brooke Vere Stead (born 1863), further strengthened ties between the Stead, Cowie and von Steiglitz families, when she married John Charles von Steiglitz on 22nd September, 1886 at Bayswater, London. John was the nephew of John Cowie's wife Charlotte Christine von Steiglitz. The couple returned to Australia where they settled in Tasmania.
Sadly, less than two weeks after his daughter's wedding, Stead died in London on 5th October, 1886.

David Vere Stead, image held by the State Library of Victoria

The Cowies chose not to remain at Bungeeltap for quite so many years and in 1854 Cowie's portion of the run was taken over by another familiar name - Dugald McPherson - who with William Taylor held the original lease for Moranghurk from 1840 to 1846. McPherson (born c1820) was a Scottish immigrant who arrived in 1840 and built up large land holdings across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
During his tenure at Bungeeltap West, McPherson built a two storey, gothic style house which has been dated to about 1862. Over the years the house underwent significant renovation. In 1922, the top storey was removed and the house almost entirely rebuilt. It sits on the west bank of the river, less than a kilometre as the crow flies from Emly Park.


Bungeeltap homestead in the 1960s. Image:  J.T. Collins collection,
La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria

After giving up the Bungeeltap lease, Cowie meanwhile left Australia for the United Kingdom where he lived at  Rostrevor, County Down, Ireland. He died there on 7th January, 1875. His wife Charlotte survived her husband by four years, she died on 3rd April, 1879 at "The Willows" Rostrevor, Ireland. There were no children born to the marriage.
The squatting licence for Bungeeltap West, still held by Dugald McPherson was listed in the Victorian Government Gazette as up for renewal in April, 1880 however, I believe the lease was cancelled in 1880.

Moorabool East Branch, Egerton-Bungeeltap Road, boundary of Bungeeltap
East and West runs looking toward Bungeeltap West.

Both the Bungeeltap and Emly Park homesteads have changed hands numerous times over the ensuing century and a half and the squatters are long gone, however both houses remain as tangible links to Victoria's colonial past.

Branching out - from squatting to schooling

Today, Bell Post Hill is a suburb of Geelong and the home of Kardinia International College, a non-denominational private school which caters for students from Kindergarten to year 12, however things were once very different.
In March, 1836, it became the site of one of the very earliest squatting runs in the Port Phillip district when John Anthony Cowie and David Vere Stead moved into the district. The pair had arrived from Tasmania in November the previous year with John Batman's party of settlers. The only other settler in the district at that time was Dr Alexander Thomson who arrived some two months after Cowie and Stead and settled on the south bank of the Barwon at the future site of the suburb of Belmont, Geelong.
On 9th July, 1836 John von Steiglitz (recently married to Cowie's sister Emma) arrived at Point Henry with stock for the run which they continued to build on for the next few years. The land held by Stead, Cowie and Steiglitz as their grazing run extended from Bell Post Hill down to the Moorabool River near Batesford and north towards what is now Lara - known to the early settlers as Duck Ponds.

Looking across the Moorabool Valley towards the Batesford quarry from Bell
Post Hill over what would have been part of Cowie and Stead's holding running
down to the river

Popular legend has it that Bell Post Hill was named for a bell, erected on the high point of the hill (possibly an old ship's bell brought by Cowie and Stead) which was used to notify settlers of the arrival of ships approaching Point Henry and also of imminent attacks by hostile members of a no doubt displaced indigenous population.

The view towards Corio Bay today from Bell Post Hill

Cowie, Stead and the von Steiglitz brothers did not long remain in the district and by 1838 they had moved up the Moorabool River where they took up a number of runs which will be the subject of future posts.
Being close to the newly established town of Geelong, the original Bell Post Hill run was soon divided up for closer settlement - possibly a reason for the departure of Cowie & Co. By 1852 subdivision was occurring in the area of Cowies Creek and by the 1860s it boasted a population of about 500 people and two pubs. Land at Bell Post Hill on the Bates Ford Road was being auctioned in lots upwards of an acre by 1853.
During 1859-60, John Calvert Esq who then owned land at the top of the hill, had a grand house erected which he called "Morongo".

"Morongo" 1863, image held by the Victorian State Library

A roughly similar view today

In addition to this residence, Calvert had squatting interests in the Western District holding the Irrewarra and Watch Hill runs with Captain John Bell who was also his neighbour at Bell Post Hill, having built his own mansion - "Bell Park" - only a short distance from Calvert's residence some years earlier in 1853-1854. All that remains of "Bell Park" today is an extension to the house, added in 1860 which now serves as a chapel for the McKellar Centre owned by Barwon Health.

Bell Park 1863, home of Captain John Bell. "Morongo" can be seen at the top
of the hill in the background. Image held by the State Library of Victoria

"Morongo" however, still survives. Following the death of Calvert in 1869 the property was advertised for auction. In 1884 with Mr Everingham as its current occupant the property, including the house and 100 acres of land, was advertised for lease. It was again advertised for lease in 1895, this time with Mrs James Bell the occupant.
In 1921 Senator James Francis Guthrie purchased "Morongo". The senator was active in the wool trade in both Geelong and Melbourne and was largely responsible for establishing the Corriedale breed of sheep in Australia. Further biographical details for Senator Guthrie can be found in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
After only five years in residence, Guthrie sold the property in October, 1926 to the Presbyterian Church. The church then established the Morongo Girls College which opened its doors in 1927. It is said that the old bell used by Cowie and Stead which had been discarded but later found and retrieved from the Moorabool River by a fisherman, became the school bell which was used for the next 26 years until it was stolen in 1953. An article appealing for information was published in the Argus.


"Morongo" homestead today

The school itself operated until 1994 when its doors closed for the final time. The following year, Mr Yoshimaro Katsumata, a Japanese businessman purchased the school which opened at the beginning of 1996 as Kardinia International College. Today the school boasts some 1,700 students across all year levels.
The "Morongo" homestead survives as one of the school buildings and one side of the driveway would appear to be lined with the trees planted during Calvert's time and which appear as saplings in the sketch of the homestead.

Trees lining the driveway leading to the homestead