On the Origin of the Batman Family

The Port Phillip Pioneers Group internet website bore fruit in August [2001] when a visitor to the site, Faith Rekowski, sent me an e-mail from Canada. Faith’s maiden name was Batman and her family have long believed that they are related to Melbourne’s...

Edmund Ferguson: our first horse doctor

Edmund Ferguson arrived in Hobart on 26 June 1833 as a cabin passenger on the “Strathfieldsaye” from Dublin, Ireland. Also on board was his future wife, Miss Maria Graves, and her widowed sister Mrs. Elizabeth Backas. A few months after arriving...

She arrived with a bang: Jane Mortimer

On December 16th, 1839, Jane Mortimer, aged 8, arrived at Port Phillip from Hobart Town with her family. The occasion was marked by a terrible explosion. We had cousins living in Market Street, Melbourne, Mr. and Mrs. John Blanch and their three children John, William...

Edward Curr the Father of Separation

Many people worked for Victoria’s separation from New South Wales but it was Edward Curr who became known as the “Father of Separation”. He adopted the cause in 1844 and actively promoted it for the following six years. Edward was born in 1798...