Unpublished and Ephemeral Material

The Local History Room at Sam Merrifield Library has a vertial file collection of local history material.  Some of this is unpublished and in some ways a treasure trove of information about the local areas of Essendon, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale and Flemington.  Areas covered include the history of the highrise estate at Flemington, Tullamarine and Essendon Airports, notes on histories of local areas, development of Lynch's Bridge, local churches and lots more.  To access the vertical file please contact the Local History staff at Sam Merrifield Library on 8325 1950.

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Historic Homes of Essendon "Mar Lodge"

"Mar Lodge" was built in 1860 and was originally the residence of James Robertson, a wealthy pastoralist who used it as his hunting lodge and later owned by his son Francis Robertson. In 1888 the McCracken Brothers purchased "Mar Lodge" and it became a gathering place for the parties and dinners for the colony's elite. By 1919 the entire estate was sold to the Todd family however by 1929 the entire property was sold and on the 18th November, 1929 the Mar Lodge Estate was officially created, with 316 allotments available from 90 pounds.
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Malakoff Castle, Maribyrnong

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Raleigh's Punt on the Maribyrnong River, Malakoff Castle in background. c. 1870-1900. Image belongs to the Sam Merrifield Library Local History Photo Collection. Malakoff Castle was built in 1846 by Mr Joseph Raleigh and was a well known landmark which stood on the summit of the Maribyrnong hill overlooking the Saltwater River now called the Maribyrnong River. The building initially was used as a shepherd's lookout by the owner of a station property which surrounded Maribyrnong. In shape it resembled a castle-like appearance with a tower and a weather-vane, the tower was built in the late 1840's or early 1850's and was built of bluestone from the quarries nearby. The building was demolished in the 1920s.
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Chinese-Australian family history

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This week the National Library of Australia hosted an excellent online seminar on researching Chinese-Australian family history Their presentation was a gold-mine of information, with many tips that are applicable more widely to researching ancestors from other non-English speaking backgrounds. Here are a few of my top take-aways from the session: - Keep a file of name variations for each of your ancestors in cases where name variations are likely - When struggling with researching ancestors from a particular time and place with which you are unfamiliar, check the Family Search website for tips. They have dedicated pages providing specific research tips for various times and places around the world. - For Asian-Australian Ancestors who travelled back and forth from Australia the Records of Exemption from the Dictation Test Certificates database created by CAFHOV is very useful: https://www.cafhov.com/vic-cedt-index/ Above: screenshot of part of the
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