Batman Loses Ground in Row over City Founders

From the Archives, 1997 By Gabrielle Costa, August 2, 2022 Melbourne’s longest running debate — the argument over who founded the city — has been reignited after the controversial decision to change the name of a prominent stretch of parkland. A section of Batman Park...

Harbours and Ships of Port Phillip – 1800 to 1930

By Martin Playne As family historians, we have tended to ignore the role that the sea has played in the history of Port Phillip. Yet, we all have ancestors or even ourselves who have arrived by sea. Our history and prosperity are intimately linked to the sea. The...

Barfold Gorge

n the 1840s my great great grandfather, his wife and five young children lived near the Barfold Gorge, in northwest Victoria. Even today, 175 years later, very few people have seen this dramatic landscape [Fig. 1]. When John Ross McNaughton died on 18 July 1885, the...

An Early Elizabeth St Flood

Having observed and measured the rainfall resulting from short sharp storms this year I was reminded of stories of earlier floods in Elizabeth Street. These effectively followed a watercourse running into the Yarra.  Those best known were in 1862, 1882 and in...

Edward Gifford Price

GIPPSLAND’S ITINERANT MINISTER Edward Gifford Pryce was born on 26 August 1814 at Liverpool, Lancashire, England, the son of Edward Pryce, merchant, and his wife Eleanor, nee Gifford. He was educated for the ministry at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A.1837). On 21...

William Willis Sexton at St James’

Though there are a number of references to William Willis being an early sexton at St. James’ Church in Melbourne he was not the first person to occupy this position. There was at least one other person there before him. Thomas Croft was the officiating sexton...