John Batman And The Foundation Of Melbourne

9th of June 1835: “the boat went up the river to where it is very deep, 30ft – that will be the place for a village”. Rex Harcourt argues that it irrelevant whether John Batman was on board that day as it was recognised from Surveyor Grimes’...

The Royal Visit

When the “Alfred” arrived at Melbourne on 24 February, 1850, one of her cabin passengers was the young Prince Frederick of Schleswig- Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg travelling incognito as Lt. Frederick Gronwald. His Highness had been...

Drowned In The Yarra

My great-great grandfather, Joseph Radford arrived in Adelaide with his wife Caroline and son Joseph William in January, 1838. His brother-in-law William Hexter had also emigrated with his family to the new settlement. Joseph became a publican of the inn “Help...

Faithful Massacre

Graves, everyone must eventually have one whether it be a grand Mausoleum, a simple plot ( with or without a marker ), at sea, or sprinkled over a rose bush in the front yard. However, of those pioneers who died and were subsequently interred before there were...

Melbourne – Sydney Rivalry

(FROM THE VERY BEGINNING) My great-great grandfather, James Hacking, his wife Elizabeth Bayes, their children William (11), James (9), George (4) who was my great-grandfather, Elizabeth (2) and baby Margaret, and Elizabeth’s father, William Bayes, arrived in...

The Abduction Of Anne Jane Woods

James and Susan Woods and their two young daughters, Anne Jane aged two years and Margaret, seven months old, arrived in the ‘Colony of Port Phillip’ on the 27th of June, 1840 and first settled at “Warrion Hills”, nineteen miles north of Colac....