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