The Barque ‘Lady Kennaway’

The next time you feel a bit cramped in a seat think of these poor souls. The “Lady Kennaway” a barque measuring 38 metres long, 9 metres wide and 5 metres deep arrived at Port Phillip with the following on the 6th December 1848. People: 191...

Batman Treaty – 175th Anniversary

On Sunday afternoon, 6 June 2010, a small group of interested persons visited the place where John Batman is assumed to have met with native chiefs at the Merri Creek, Northcote in 1835. 175th Anniversary Meeting at Merri Creek, 6 June 2010 The Port Phillip Pioneers...

Sorrento Commemoration Report

The last time Robert Barnes addressed our meeting he described the preparations for the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Collins settlement at Sorrento. Today he did an appraisal of the events which occurred in October 2003. Overall Robert feels that the...

Jeremiah Coffee 22 Years On

Jeremiah Coffee was resident in the Port Phillip District in 1838 and brought with him from Ireland a reference which stated that he was “competent to embrace and discharge any agricultural situation.” It would appear that this reference was valid....

Melbourne Place Names

BRIGHTON ( named after the popular Sussex watering town ) was originally a private holding, chosen in England by Henry Dendy, farmer, of Sussex, measuring 5,120 acres for a cost of 5,120 pounds. It was described as densely timbered waste lands when Dendy entered...

The Taking of the 1841 Census

On 2 March 1841 a census of all of New South Wales was held. For collection and statistical purposes the Port Phillip District was divided into the counties of Bourke, Grant and Normanby and the Police Commissioner’s Districts of Western Port and Portland Bay....