Moonee Valley Family & Local History Blog

  Buckley Park is a wonderful green space in Essendon, home to a tennis club, bowls club and the Essendon Doutta Stars football club. But it wasn’t always a space for recreation and has been through many changes- what used to be on the land that we now call Buckley Park? Post European settlement, the land was granted in 1850 to Mr William Hoffman, one of the few Germans living in the area at the time. It was bounded by Hoffmans Road, Keilor Road, Buckley Street and Hedderwick Street. The allotment was later known as Buckely Park Estate and was quite a large bit of land, most of which was used for grazing. Hoffman built his original residence in 1867, and named it ‘Butzbach’ after a town in Germany. It was a lovely large bluestone homestead,  near what is now the corner of Nimmo Street and Spencer Street. A section of the original Doutta Galla County of Bourke Parish Allotments , drawn and reproduced at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne, Victoria. Courtesy of the...

If you have anything more than a passing interest in Melbourne history you’ve probably heard of a man named William Buckley : an escaped convict who lived for years with the Wurundjeri people in what would become the Port Phillip District before reintegrating into white society once Melbourne was established. That William Buckley is a fascinating fellow – but this post is all about a different William Buckley, a man known as “Captain William Buckley” who moved to the Moonee Moonee Ponds District back in 1840. If you look into the origins of the names of Buckley Street and Buckley Park you’ll find they both took their names from Captain William Henry Buckley, a prosperous and prominent early resident of the area who earned enough to fund building a mansion in Ascot Vale by working as a government administrator. So far so dull.  But wait… if he was an administrator – Chief Clerk of the Survey Department at the peak of his career – why is he called Captain? And also, can Chief Clerks...

E W Cole is definitely a contender for most colourful historical personality from Moonee Valley.  Never heard of E W Cole? Perhaps the cover of one of his books might jog your memory? Cole compiled and published a series of Funny Picture Books. The first one launched on Christmas Eve 1879 and they remained incredibly popular for decades.  Remember this?  If you remember the Funny Picture Books you’ll probably remember that Cole loved absurd humour. The first of the series has been made available for free online thanks to the Gutenberg Project – so one of your suggested things to do this Thursday is to re/discover Cole’s Funny Picture Book #1.   B e warned though: what was considered funny and family appropriate then is not necessarily still considered funny – or appropriate for anyone – today, but the book is certainly interesting, has a few gems, and even the bits we cringe at now say a lot about the culture of the time and place in which the book was published. E W...

Do you have any photographs or stories of the old Essendon Drill Hall? We have an inquirer who wants pictures or information relating to the history of the Army Drill Hall in Pascoe Vale Road, Moonee Ponds. Information about the current building would be welcomed, but we'd especially like to find photos, documents or stories relating to the previous building that stood from 1914 until 1962, which was opened on 17th October 1914 by the Mayor, Cr J Goldsworthy (you can see an article from the time on Trove ). If you can help, please let me know (you can comment below, send me an email using the link to the right, or call/visit Sam Merrifield Library and ask for Julia). Julia

Do you remember milk being delivered by horse and cart? If you've lived in Essendon awhile, it's not unlikely that you do. Remarkably, the Tighe family who ran the Lincoln Park Dairy, were still making milk deliveries in Essendon with a Clydesdale driven cart until 1987, decades after horse-drawn deliveries had ended in most suburbs! The National Museum are now preparing an exhibition about horses in Australia that will feature the Tighe's yellow cart. And Essendon Historical Society members provided information and memories about the Tighe family milk delivery service that Museum staff found so fascinating they decided to make a documentary featuring them which will be part of the show. Painting of Princess and Pat Tighe delivering milk in Essendon, by Susan Dowling, ( from the Magic1278 blog ). You can read more about this story, and see a wonderful image of the Tighe's horse and cart, in the Moonee Valley Leader of 27th January 2014 (page 11). Congratulat...

In April 1942 articles in the Essendon Gazette reflected the unease felt in the community as Australia faced war on her doorstep.  Mr T. Pidd, the Defence Training Inspector at Essendon Technical School, drew up plans for a stirrup pump capable of pumping water out of air raid shelters. The pump was made by modifying a car pump, and his blue prints were made available to the public for 3/- Lighting restrictions were also in place. Inside lighting was only permissible if curtains, drapes or blinds obscured the windows. No   light was to be seen outside   a building between sunset and dawn. Residents were instructed to be ready to observe a total blackout at a moments notice. You can view the original articles from  the Essendon Gazette dated 16/04/1942. Available on microfilm in the Sam Merrifield Library.

In January 1920 The Essendon Gazette reported that  “accelerated and more frequent services for electric trains between Sandringham and Essendon came into operation”. Trains were to run every four minutes in peak times and every fifteen minutes “in the slack periods”. It was noted that the improved service was much appreciated. The Essendon Gazette p2, 29/01/1920 You can read the full article on microfilm in the Sam Merrifield Library.