St Heliers

John Hodgson (1799-1860), merchant, was the first owner of St Heliers before selling the property (due to insolvency) to Edward Curr in 1842 at a great bargain price at a sheriff’s sale.  It was then a 4-roomed cottage before Curr built a new house in...

DEATH OF A KING

Mudgen, the king or chief of the Barrabool tribe of Aborigines, died on Sunday morning last, the disease which carried him off being a severe attack of influenza. Mudgen was well known about Geelong and the neighbouring districts as a very intelligent, inoffensive...

Notes on a Bush Life

March 22, 1843: ‘NOTES OF A BUSH LIFE – No. 1’, page 4.             [In late numbers of Chamber’s Journal there is a series of articles headed “Notes of a Residence in the Bush,” by a lady...

Native Police Victoria

The concept of a Native Police force was first proposed by Captain Alexander Maconochie in 1837, as an alternative method to ‘protection’ and based on ideas of assimilation and compensation for land. The force was established in the Port Phillip District on three...