First Punt Across the Yarra

Figure 1. Landing at Melbourne on North Bank of Yarra River 1840 (Source: Watercolour by W. F. E. Liardet, State Library of Victoria) When my great great grandfather John Ross McNaughton arrived in Melbourne in January 1839 he was employed by Thomas Watt,...

The First Post Office, Melbourne

First Post Office at Melbourne 1841 (Source: Watercolour by W. F. E. Liardet, State Library of Victoria) Bullock team and cart on a dirt road, small wooden Post Office building with shingled roof, tents, established house belonging to John Batman in the distance....

Andrew MacNaughton – Geelong’s First Publican

Mack’s Hotel, on Corio Terrace ca. 1875  The first liquor to be served in a public house in Geelong, the second largest city in the state of Victoria, was on April Fool’s Day, 1839. The name of Geelong’s first publican was Andrew Macnaughton....

The History of Echuca and Moama

Situated on opposite sides of the Murray River, Moama & Echuca have interesting histories.They are due north of Melbourne at the closest point of the Murray River to Melbourne. In 1865 an article in the “Pastoral Times” newspaper declared...

Adolphus Goldsmith: Pastoralist of ‘Trawallo’

The Victorian town of Trawalla, east of Beaufort and 41 km west of Ballarat, is named after an aboriginal word meaning ‘much rain.’ It was in this area that the “Trawallo” pastoral run was begun about 1838 by Robert Hamilton, James McGregor...